BX9225.H6  S3  1888 
Salmond,  Charles  A.  1853- 
1932. 

Princetoniana 


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Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/princetonianachaOOsalm_0 


PRINCETONIANA. 


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PRINCE  TON  I  A  N A . 


/ 

CHARLES  &  A.  A.  HODGE 

WITH 

CLASS  AND  TABLE  TALK 

OF 

HODGE  THE  YOUNGER. 


BY 


A  SCOTTISH^^INCETONIAN. 

(rev.  c.  a.  salmond,  m.a.) 


f[  yap  Trarpds  daWovros  evKXkas  t^kpols  &ya\p.a  piel^ov,  fj  tl  irpos  Traidcop 

TrarpL’, — (Sophoc.  Antig.) 


NEW  YORK: 

SCRIBNER  &  WELFORD, 

743  and  745  BROADWAY. 


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TO 

PROF.  WILLIAM  HENRY  GREEN,  D.D  =  ,  LL.D., 

AND 

HIS  COLLEAGUES  IN  PRINCETON  SEMINARY, 

THIS  TRIBUTE  TO  GRATEFUL  MEMORIES 

IS  WITH  MUCH  RESPECT  INSCRIBED 

BY 

AN  OLD  ALUMNUS. 


“  Optima  autem  hereditas,  gloria  virtutis  rerumque  gestarum.  .  .  . 
Quod  enim  munus  reipublicse  afferre  majus  meliusve  possumus,  quam 
si  docemus  atque  erudimus  juventutem.”  (Cic.) 


4 


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1  '*  * 


PREFACE. 


This  volume  consists,  as  will  be  seen,  of  two  parts. 

In  the  first  part,  which  is  biographical,  I  have 
sought  briefly  but  clearly  to  delineate  in  character 
and  life  two  of  the  greatest  and  best  men  it  has  been 
my  happiness  anywhere  to  meet.  In  the  second 
part,  I  have  undertaken  the  humbler,  but  perhaps 
more  important  task  of  conveying  some  impressions 
of  a  singularly  gifted  teacher,  whose  help  was  valued 
and  whose  memory  is  loved,  through  the  simple 
report  of  things  he  uttered  in  my  hearing. 

In  the  first  division,  I  have  made  free  use  of  former 
contributions  by  myself  to  magazines  *  and  various 
newspapers,  and  have  also  freely  availed  myself  of 
“  The  Life  of  Charles  Hodge,”  written  by  his  son,  and 
of  the  “Funeral  Address  ”  and  “Memorial  Discourse,” 
written,  respectively,  with  reference  to  that  son,  by 
Prof.  William  M.  Paxton,  D.D.,  formerly  of  New 
York,  now  of  Princeton,  and  Prof.  F.  L.  Patton,  D.D., 
LL.D.,  formerly  of  Chicago,  now  likewise  of  Prince¬ 
ton.  In  the  second  division,  my  one  source  of  in¬ 
formation  has  been  my  old  Princeton  notebook,  in 
which  I  took  jottings,  at  the  time  they  were  uttered, 
of  the  sayings  now  for  the  first  time  printed  liere. 

*  Viz.  :  The  Sunday  at  Home  (April,  1879),  The  Catholic  Presby¬ 
terian  (January,  1881),  and  The  Christian  (August,  1887). 


8 


PREFACE. 


Friends  well  competent  to  judge  have  encouraged 
me  in  the  belief  that  this  little  book  may  have  its 
use.  To  those  already  acquainted  with  the  father 
and  the  son  of  whom  it  treats,  it  may  be  a  Avelcome 
memento  of  men  they  would  not  willingly  forget. 
To  those  who,  as  yet,  are  acquainted  only  by  name 
Avith  either  the  older  or  the  younger  Hodge,  it  may 
serve  as  a  somewhat  fuller  introduction  to  two  of 
God’s  servants,  to  either  of  whom,  in  his  place,  old 
Chaucer’s  delineation  of  the  “  good  man  of  religion  ” 
might  be  very  justly  applied — 

“  But  Christes  lore,  and  his  apostles  twelve. 

He  taught,  but  first  he  folowed  it  himselve.” 

To  theologians, — including  laymen  with  a  fondness 
for  theological  study, — the  book,  it  is  hoped,  will  have 
an  additional  interest,  as  a  presentation  in  the  con¬ 
crete  of  some  of  the  elements  of  influence  in  that 
school  of  Christian  thought,  which,  according  to  the 
judgment  of  a  penetrating  cis-Atlantic  critic,  “  more 
and  more  manifestly  is  destined  to  be  the  dominant 
thought  of  Christian  America.” 

C.  A.  S. 


Rothesay,  Isle  of  Bute, 
January^  1 888. 


CONTENTS. 


BIOGRAPHY—  pack 

1.  Princeton  and  its  Institutions  .  ir 

II.  Charles  Hodge’s  Parentage,  Youth, 

AND  Education  .  .  .  15 

III.  Ordination,  Marriage,  Editorship  .  20 

IV.  Lehrjahre  in  Europe  ...  24 

V.  The  Zenith  reached  :  and  the  Day  of 

Jubilee  ...  .31 

VI.  The  Evening  Time  :  and  the  New  Day’s 

Dawn  .....  40 

VII.  Dr  Charles  Hodge  as  Tfacher,  Church¬ 

man,  AND  Theologian  ...  44 

VIII.  HOdge  the  Younger  contrasted  with 

HIS  Father  •  •  •  •  53 

IX.  Sea-sickness  :  but  not  in  Theology  .  56 

X.  Birth  and  Boyhood  of  A.  A.  Hodge  .  59 

XI.  His  Student  Days,  and  departure  for 

India  .....  63 

XII.  A.  A.  Hodge  as  Missionary  .  .  68 

XIII.  Pastor,  Preacher,  and  Pluralist  Pro¬ 

fessor  .....  73 

XIV.  A  True  Apostolic  Succession  .  .  78 


lO 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

XV.  The  Princeton  School,  and  A.  A. 

Hodge’s  place  in  it  .  .  .  87 

XVI.  Varied  glimpses  of  the  younger  Hodge  92 

XVII.  Ripened  in  Usefulness,  and  Ripe  for 

Glory  .....  99 

XVIII.  Dr  a.  a.  Hodge  among  his  Students  .  104 

BREVIA  THEOLOGICA— 

I.  Obiter  Dicta  .  .  .  .113 

11.  Reason  and  Revelation  .  .  .  123 

III.  The  Universe  .  .  .  -137 

IV.  The  Being  and  Attributes  of  God  .  152 

V.  The  Holy  Trinity  ....  162 

VI.  Sovereignty,  Free-Will,  and  Salvation  168 

VII.  Providence,  Ordinary  AND  Miraculous  179 

VHI.  Man  as  Man  ....  187 

IX.  Man  as  Sinner  .  .  .  -193 

X.  God’s  Law  and  Man’s  Duty  .  .  213 

XI.  Death  and  after  Death  .  .  229 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


I. 


PRINCETON  AND  ITS  INSTITUTIONS. 


“  An  old  University  town  .  .  . 
Kirk  and  College  keeping  time, 

Faith  and  Learning,  chime  for  chime.” 


Borland  Hall. 


RINCETON  is  a  pleasant  little  town  of  fully 


six  thousand  inhabitants.  It  is  situated  on 
the  slopes  of  New  Jersey,  half-way  between  New 
York  and  Philadelphia,  being  about  forty  miles,  or 
two  hours  by  rail,  from  each.  Its  population  is  mixed, 
including  perhaps  one  thousand  or  more  of  coloured 
people.  The  country  round  is  fertile,  but  somewhat 
flat.  In  the  neighbourhood  is  the  scene  of  a  decisive 
battle  in  the  War  of  Independence  ;  and  a  patent 
proof  of  the  fate  which  befell  the  “  Britishers”  there 
is  still  found  in  the  presence  of  some  British  cannon 
within  the  College  grounds, — not  to  speak  of  a  picture 
in  the  Museum,  whose  frame  now  environs  the 
immortal  Washington,  in  place  of  the  visage  of 
infatuated  King  George. 

“The  Kingdom  of  Jersey,”  as  Americans  plea¬ 
santly  call  the  state  to  which  the  little  town  belongs, 
is  noted  for  three  things  :  its  fruit,  its  legislation,  and 


12 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


its  theology.  The  last  it  gets  from  Princeton  :  and 
throughout  the  United  States  “  Princeton  theology” 
has  long  been  regarded  as  a  synonym  for  orthodoxy. 

The  village  has  an  unmistakably  academic  look, 
clustering  as  it  does  about  its  seats  of  learning. 
These  are  two, — the  College  and  the  Theological 
Seminary.  The  College,  which  counts  on  its  roll 
of  presidents  the  names  of  Witherspoon,  Jonathan 
Edwards,  and  M‘Cosh,  has  risen  to  front  rank  among 
the  many  colleges  of  America,  alongside  of  Harvard 
and  Yale.  The  Seminary  has  for  a  long  period  held 
a  unique  place  of  influence  among  the  similar  institu¬ 
tions  of  the  United  States,  owing  to  the  remarkably 
gifted  and  devoted  men  who,  up  to  and  including  the 
present,  have  composed  its  professorial  staff.  Con¬ 
spicuous  among  these  have  been  two  names  of  quite 
outstanding  lustre, — each  name  suggestive  of  a 
binary  star  in  the  Princeton  firmament — the  names 
of  Alexander  and  Hodge. 

Of  the  two  Alexanders,  much  that  is  interesting 
might  be  told.  It  will  be  a  long  time  before  the 
savour  evaporates  which  still  hangs  about  their  name 
in  Princeton.  But  it  is  not  my  present  purpose  to 
speak  about  them.  Nor  shall  I  say  anything  of  the 
living ;  else  one  who  still  worthily  maintains  the 
family  name  within  the  Seminary  professoriate  might 
have  been  included  in  this  sketch — Dr  Caspar  Wistar 
Hodge,  the  accomplished  successor  of  his  father  in 
the  chair  of  New  Testament  exegesis.  The  design 
of  this  little  volume  is  to  offer  a  humble  contribution 


1 


PRINCETON  AND  ITS  INSTITUTIONS.  I  3 

to  the  elucidation  of  Princeton  dogmatics  :  and  the 
purpose  of  the  present  brief  memoir  will  be  served  if 
it  conveys  some  living  impression  of  the  character¬ 
istics,  as  man  and  teacher,  of  each  of  the  two  Hodges, 
father  and  son,  who  in  succession  occupied,  with  such 
distinction  to  themselves  and  such  advantage  to  the 
Christian  cause,  the  chair  of  Systematic  Theology  in 
Princeton,  from  1840  to  1886. 

It  was  in  the  autumn  of  1877  that,  having  previously 
enjoyed  a  session  at  Gottingen  under  Ritschl  and 
others,  I  was  led  to  spend  a  year  at  Princeton,  NJ. 
I  attended  and  greatly  relished  the  post-graduate 
course  in  contemporary  philosophy  taught  by  Presi¬ 
dent  M‘Cosh  in  the  College — an  institution  for  which, 
and  in  connection  with  which,  he  has  rendered  such 
signal  service  during  the  trans-Atlantic  chapter  of 
his  distinguished  career.  But  my  main  purpose 
was  to  settle  for  a  year  within  the  Theological 
Seminary  there — that  ancient  Seminary,  as  antiquity 
is  measured  in  America,  one  of  whose  leading 
boasts  it  is,  that  no  novelty  in  theology  ever 
emanated  from  within  its  walls.*  And  certainly 
I  have  seen  no  reason  to  regret  the  step.  The 
late  Dr  William  Cunningham,  Principal  of  the  New 
College,  Edinburgh,  being  once  asked  by  a  student, 
whether  a  year  under  Hodge  in  Princeton  would 
count  for  a  session  in  the  home  curriculum,  replied 
— “  Count  !  undoubtedly ;  the  only  question  is, 

*  Dr  Charles  Hodge  at  his  jubilee,  in  1872,  declared — “I  am  not 
afraid  to  say,  that  a  new  idea  never  originated  in  this  Seminary  ” 
[Life,  p.  521),  In  what  sense  this  was  true,  the  present  volume  may 
help  to  shew. 


14  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

ought  it  not  to  count  for  two  ?  ’’  Modesty  may 
have  somewhat  coloured  this  estimate  by  the  Scot¬ 
tish  divine,  who  considered  Dr  Charles  Hodge  the 
greatest  of  living  theologians,  and  who,  in  turn,  was 
regarded  at  Princeton  as  “  beyond  question  the 
greatest  logician,  polemic,  and  theologian  of  the 
second  heroic  age  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in 
Scotland.”  But  the  opinion  may  be  hazarded 
that  young  “  divinities  ”  who  think  of  having  a 
session  abroad,  and  who  perhaps  covet  the  dis¬ 
tinction  of  coming  back  from  Germany  with  a 
sufficient  so2ipqon  of  neology  about  them  to  make 
them  interesting  rather  than  dangerous,  would  do 
unquestionably  well  to  cross  the  Atlantic  Ocean  as 
well  as  the  German  Sea.  Not  only  would  such 
find  a  corrective  for  incipient  erraticism  in  the  New 
World’s  old  theology  :  they  would  benefit  in  various 
ways  by  mingling  for  a  time  in  American  society. 
A  number  of  the  leading  preachers  of  Philadelphia 
and  New  York,  for  example,  visit  Princeton  during 
the  session — to  listen  to  whom  is  itself  no  mean 
educational  advantage  for  a  future  preacher.  Prac¬ 
tical  hints  in  church  organisation  also  may  be  readily 
acquired  from  our  eminently  practical  trans-Atlantic 
cousins,  to  be  afterwards  turned  to  good  account  by 
the  future  pastor.  And,  better  still,  the  student  can 
hardly  fail  to  be  impressed  and  personally  stimulated 
by  contact  with  the  earnest  religious  life  of  Christian 
America,  which  is  a  kind  of  thing  that  German 
theology,  whatever  its  excellences  are,  seems  little 
calculated  to  produce  or  foster. 


11. 


CHARLES  HODGE’S  PARENTAGE,  YOUTH,  AND 

EDUCATION. 

“  The  son  of  parents  passed  into  the  skies.” 

COWPER. 

•  •  •  •  • 

“  Heaven  lies  about  us  in  our  infancy. 

Wordsworth. 

t  •  •  •  • 

“  Deeper,  deeper  let  us  toil 
In  the  mines  of  knowledge  ; 

Nature’s  wealth  and  learning’s  spoil 
Win  from  school  and  college  ; 

Delve  we  there  for  richer  gems 
Than  the  stars  of  diadems.” 

Montgomery. 

IN  the  year  1730  there  emigrated  from  the  north 
of  Ireland  three  young  men  whose  parents  had 
recently  died — William,  Andrew,  and  Hugh  Hodge. 
America  was  their  destination,  and  Philadelphia 
became  their  home.  All  the  three  prospered  ;  and 
Andrew,  the  second  of  the  brothers,  besides  being  a 
successful  merchant,  became  in  due  time  an  active 
churchman,  and  the  respected  parent  of  fifteen 
children.  The  eighth  of  these,  Hugh  by  name,  who 
was  born  in  1755,  and  who  followed  the  medical 


I  6  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

profession,  was  Charles  Hodge’s  father.  He  was  a 
man  highly  esteemed  for  character  and  intelligence. 
His  wife,  a  lady  of  Huguenot  extraction,  was  “  the 
beautiful  Mary  Blanchard  of  Boston,”  whom  he 
married  in  1790.  Of  their  children,  the  first  three 
died  in  infancy ;  the  fourth  was  Hugh,  afterwards  a 
distinguished  Philadelphia  physician  ;  the  fifth  and 
last  was  Charles — born  on  the  28th  December  1797 
— of  whom  we  are  now  to  speak. 

Six  months  after  the  birth  of  her  youngest  son, 
Mrs  Hodge  was  left  a  widow.  She  seems  to  have 
been  a  lady  of  strong  character,  as  well  as  of  sincere 
piety  and  active  benevolence.  Her  income  from  the 
property  left  by  her  husband  was  more  limited  than 
it  might  otherwise  have  been,  owing  to  the  troubled 
state  of  the  country ;  but  by  keeping  boarders  and 
exercising  a  self-denying  economy,  she  was  enabled 
to  accomplish  her  cherished  wish  of  providing 
both  her  boys  with  a  first-class  education.  They  in 
turn  recognised  that  “  to  their  mother,  under  God, 
they  owed  everything,”  and  they  regarded  her  with 
a  beautiful  devotion  till  her  death  in  1832.  How 
early  and  successfully  she  had  imbued  the  minds  of 
her  children  with  religious  principles  may  be  gathered 
from  the  following  interesting  extract  from  Dr 
Hodge’s  autobiographic  record  : — 

“  There  has  never  been  anything  remarkable  in 
my  religious  experience,  unless  it  be  that  it  began 
very  early.  I  think  that  in  my  childhood  I  came 
nearer  to  conforming  to  the  apostle’s  injunction, 


parp:ntage,  youth,  and  education.  17 

‘  Pray  without  ceasing,’  than  in  any  other  period  of 
my  life.  As  far  back  as  I  can  remember,  I  had  the 
habit  of  thanking  God  for  everything  I  received, 
and  asking  him  for  everything  I  wanted.  If  I  lost  a 
book,  or  any  of  my  playthings,  I  prayed  that  I  might 
find  it.  I  prayed  walking  along  the  streets,  in  school 
and  out  of  school,  whether  playing  or  studying.  I 
did  not  do  this  in  obedience  to  any  prescribed  rule. 
It  seemed  natural.  I  thought  of  God  as  an  every- 
where-present  Being,  full  of  kindness  and  love,  who 
would  not  be  offended  if  children  talked  to  Him.  I 
knew  he  cared  for  sparrows.  I  was  as  cheerful  and 
happy  as  the  birds,  and  acted  as  they  did.” 

After  attending  primary  schools  in  Philadelphia 
and  elsewhere,  Charles  Hodge  entered  Princeton 
Academy  in  1812,  which  happened  to  be  the  year  in 
which  the  Theological  Seminary  there  was  founded. 
He  always  retained  a  lively  recollection  of  lying  on 
the  rail  of  the  gallery  in  the  old  Presbyterian  Church, 
listening  to  the  inaugural  address  of  his  future  men¬ 
tor,  Dr  Archibald  Alexander,  to  whom  he  was  intro¬ 
duced  the  same  summer,  when  Dr  Alexander  walked 
into  the  schoolroom  one  day  and  found  him  stam¬ 
mering  over  a  verse  in  the  Greek  Testament.  In 
September  of  that  year,  he  entered  Princeton  College, 
then  under  the  presidency  of  Dr  Ashbel  Green.  His 
opportunities  in  some  branches  cannot  have  been 
first-rate,  judging  from  what  he  tells  of  one  professor 
who  “  had  a  favourite  idea  that  civilisation  had 

reached  its  highest  stage  before  the  deluge,”  and  who 

B 


i8 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


had  a  pleasant  way  of  enforcing  duty,  by  telling  his 
pupils  that  “  one  of  the  best  preparations  for  death 
was  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Greek  Grammar !  ” 
Yet  his  acquisitions  were  considerable  by  the  time 
he  graduated  in  September  1815,  as  was  shown  by 
his  sharing  the  second  highest  honour,  and  being 
chosen  to  deliver  the  valedictory  address  on  behalf 
of  his  class. 

Meanwhile,  his  religious  life  had  been  advancing. 
In  January  1815,  the  news  went  round  in  student 
circles  that  “  Hodge  had  enlisted.”  This  was  soon 
discovered  to  mean,  not  that  he  had  sworn  to  fight 
the  British,  but  that  he  had  enlisted  under  the  banner 
of  Christ,  by  making  an  open  profession  of  faith  in 
Him.  These  were  blessed  days  for  Princeton,  to 
which,  long  years  afterwards,  the  old  man  sometimes 
referred  with  deep  emotion.  His  companions,  Johns 
and  M‘Ilvaine,  and  many  others,  afterwards  eminent 
for  ability  and  godliness,  came  under  the  influence 
of  that  revival,  and  helped,  along  with  him,  to 
extend  it.* 

After  the  close  of  his  college  course  Charles  Hodge 
had  to  spend  a  year  in  general  reading,  in  order  to 
recruit  his  overtaxed  physical  strength ;  but  he  never 
wavered  in  his  choice  of  a  profession,  and  was  eager  to 
enter  on  definite  preparation  for  the  ministry.  It  was 

*  The  writer  can  fully  endorse  a  recent  remark  of  Professor  Drum¬ 
mond’s,  that  the  atmosphere  of  American  colleges  is  still,  at  least  in 
certain  instances,  including  Princeton,  to  a  noteworthy  extent  a 
religious  atmosphere. 


PARENTAGE,  YOUTH,  AND  EDUCATION. 


19 


with  intense  satisfaction,  therefore,  that  he  enrolled  his 
name,  on  9th  November,  1816,  as  one  of  the  twenty- 
six  students  attending  Princeton  Seminary  that  year. 
He  soon  showed  himself  an  earnest  and  successful 
student — diligent  at  his  books,  ardently  devoted  to 
his  professors  (then  only  two  in  number),  and  warmly 
attached  to  his  comrades.  His  friendship  for  John 
Johns  (afterwards  Bishop  of  Virginia),  already  begun 
at  college,  here  grew  into  an  intimacy  of  mutual 
affection,  that  seemed  steadily  to  deepen  during  the 
fifty  years  and  more  that  followed.  There  are  many 
beautiful  glimpses  of  this  life-long  attachment  scat¬ 
tered  through  his  biography  ;  and  nothing,  indeed, 
was  more  characteristic  of  Dr  Hodge  than  the  ten¬ 
derness  and  tenacity  of  his  friendships. 

On  28th  September,  1819,  he  graduated  from 
Princeton  Seminary;  and,  a  month  later,  the  presby¬ 
tery  of  Philadelphia  licensed  him  to  preach  the 
Gospel. 


III. 


ORDINATION,  MARRIAGE,  EDITORSHIP. 


“  Onward,  onward  may  we  press 
Through  the  path  of  duty  ; 

Virtue  is  true  happiness, 

Excellence  true  beauty. 

Minds  are  of  celestial  birth  ; 

Make  we,  then,  a  heaven  of  earth.  ” 


Montgomery. 


HOUGH  Hodge,  apart  from  occasional  bursts 


J-  of  eloquence,  was  never  to  become  an  eminent 
preacher,  the  quiet  but  deep  enthusiasm  with  which 
he  regarded  the  work  of  the  ministry  was  abundantly 
evinced  both  in  his  missionary  labours  at  this  time, 
and  in  the  view  he  took  of  a  proposal  already  mooted, 
that  he  should  be  assumed  as  assistant-teacher  of 
Biblical  literature  and  exegesis  in  Princeton  Semin¬ 
ary.  We  find  him  writing :  “  Did  the  duties  of  the 
contemplated  office  require  me  to  give  up  the  pros¬ 
pect  of  preaching  altogether,  I  think  I  should  not 
hesitate  in  declining  it ;  for  I  believe  that  preaching 
the  Gospel  is  a  privilege  superior  to  any  other 
entrusted  to  men  ;  ”  and  again  :  “  I  would  give  the 
world,  were  my  desire  of  honouring  Christ  and  of 


ORDINATION,  MARRIAGE,  AND  EDITORSHIP.  2  1 

saving  souls  so  strong  that  I  should  be  indifferent  to 
what  related  merely  to  myself.” 

He  accepted  his  appointment  to  the  Seminary 
assistantship  in  1820,  at  the  munificent  salary  of  ;^8o 
(400  dols.)  a-year ;  and  so  well  did  he  acquit  himself 
in  it  during  the  two  following  sessions,  that  his  two 
senior  professors — Dr  Alexander  and  Dr  Samuel 
Miller — resolved  to  ask  the  Assembly  to  elevate  him 
to  a  regular  professorial  chair.  Here  is  how  he  him¬ 
self  viewed  the  proposal  :  “  I  believe  that  I  would 
rather  be  homeless  and  penniless  through  life,  than 
in  any  way  whatever  enter  such  an  office  unsent  of 
God.”  At  the  same  time,  he  confesses  that  the 
fondest  wishes  of  his  heart  would  be  accomplished 
in  being  called  to  such  a  post,  which  he  would  prefer 
to  any  other  situation  with  the  largest  salary  in  the 
country.  This  disregard  for  pecuniary  emolument 
was  another  distinguishing  mark  of  his  whole  subse¬ 
quent  career. 

Happily,  the  ^80  were  increased  to  £200,  when, 
in  May  1822,  he  was  actually  made  Professor  of 
Oriental  and  Biblical  Literature ;  otherwise,  the  step 
he  took  a  month  later  would  hardly  have  been 
possible.  This  was  his  marriage  to  Sarah  Bache, 
great-grand-daughter  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  a  young 
lady  of  unusual  beauty  both  of  person  and  character, 
whom  he  had  met,  for  the  first  time,  nine  years 
before,  in  his  mother’s  house  at  Philadelphia.  She 
always  attributed  her  religious  life  to  his  instru¬ 
mentality  ;  and  the  following,  written  by  her  on 


22 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


4th  August  1820,  may  be  taken  as  a  specimen  of 
the  serious  ‘‘  love-letters  ”  that  passed  between 
them — 

“  I  love  to  feel  myself  bound  to  you  by  indis¬ 
soluble  ties  that  not  even  the  grave  can  change 
— to  feel  that  after  being  cherished  and  guided  by 
you  through  time,  I  shall,  through  your  instru¬ 
mentality,  stand  by  you,  purified,  before  the  throne 
of  our  Heavenly  Father  when  time  shall  be  no 
more.  Can  any  conception  comprehend  the  ecstacy 
of  such  a  moment,  or  any  earthly  happiness  equal  it  ? 
Am  I  guilty  of  detracting  from  the  true  source  and 
first  cause  of  all  happiness,  when  I  suppose  that 
even  in  heaven  it  may  be  augmented  by  the  reflec¬ 
tion  that  a  beloved  partner  was  the  means  of  our 
attaining  it  ?  ” 

After  living  for  a  short  time  in  apartments  at 
Princeton,  the  young  pair  “  began  housekeeping  ” 
on  1st  January  1825,  in  the  new  house  built  for 
them  close  to  the  Seminary — that  familiar  home 
where  Dr  Hodge  lived,  and  loved,  and  laboured  for 
more  than  half  a  century  to  come.  There  his  eight 
children,  except  the  eldest,  were  born,  and  there 
his  loved  partner  was  reft  from  him  by  death  in 
1849.  As  the  trees  grew  up  which  his  own  hands 
had  planted,  and  the  walls  turned  old  which  were 
then  so  new,  and  every  familiar  object  became 
entwined  with  the  dearest  associations,  we  cannot 
wonder  that'  he  came  to  feel  as  though  the  place 
were  'almost  part  of  himself  His  biographer  in- 


ORDINATION,  MARRIAGE,  AND  EDITORSHIP.  23 

stances,  as  a  characteristic  trait  of  conservatism, 
that  he  went  on  “  for  forty-five  years  reclining  and 
sitting,  reading,  writing,  praying,  and  talking  in  one 
spot  of  one  room  ;  ”  and  that  he  said  pathetically  a 
few  years  before  he  died,  “  This  chair  and  I  for 
forty  years  have  been  growing  to  each  other  very 
closely.”  It  is  also  mentioned  that  he  could  never 
be  induced  to  have  his  clothes  made  anywhere  else 
than  at  the  same  old  shop  which  he  had  patronised 
from  the  first ;  for  “  there  was  no  element  of  his 
nature  inclined  to  new  measures  any  more  than  to 
new  doctrines.”  It  ought,  however,  to  be  added, 
that  to  the  very  last  the  outlook  from  this  home 
of  many  years  was  keenly  observant  and  warmly 
sympathetic.  He  continued  to  be  intelligently 
alive  to  all  the  movements  of  the  day,  and  brought 
to  bear  on  the  most  distant  of  them  a  telescopic 
interest  that  made  the  remote  near  and  then 
surveyed  it  with  honest  appreciation. 

We  may  regard  as  the  closing  event  of  this  first 
period  of  his  life,  his  inauguration,  in  1825,  of  the 
Biblical  Repertory.  It  was  at  first  a  mere  reprint 
of  foreign  articles ;  but  it  assumed  an  original 
character  four  years  later,  and  afterwards  developed 
into  the  well-known  Prineeton  Reviezv,  which,  for 
forty-three  years  in  all.  Dr  Hodge  made  the  medium 
of  exerting  an  untold  influence  in  his  own  country 
on  the  great  religious  and  social  questions  of  the 
day. 


IV. 


LEHRJAHRE  IN  EUROPE. 

“  One  who  of  such  a  height  hath  built  his  mind, 

And  reared  the  dwelling  of  his  thoughts  so  strong, 

As  neither  fear  nor  hope  can  shake  the  frame 
Of  his  resolved  powers.” 

Samuel  Daniel. 

IT  was  a  somewhat  startling  announcement  for 
Hugh  Hodge  to  receive  from  his  steady-going 
brother  Charles  in  1826:  “I  want  to  leave  you  all 
for  two  years,  wife  and  child,  mother  and  brother.” 
This  desire  was  prompted  by  the  experience  already 
gained  in  his  brief  professoriate,  which,  as  it  had 
raised  his  ideal  of  the  work,  had  served  at  the  same 
time  to  convince  him  of  the  necessity  for  a  fuller 
personal  equipment  for  it,  by  a  period  of  private 
and  uninterrupted  study  under  the  most  eminent 
living  teachers  of  Biblical  science.  His  proposal 
was  cordially  taken  up  by  the  senior  professors,  and, 
on  their  recommendation,  agreed  to  by  the  Board 
of  Directors  ;  so  that,  in  October,  1826,  he  sailed 
for  Havre,  leaving  his  wife  and  young  family  at  his 
mother’s  home  in  Philadelphia. 

While  he  was  away,  his  “  paternal  professors  ” 
bore  him  constantly  and  anxiously  on  their  hearts  ; 


LEHRJAHRE  IN  EUROPE. 


25 


but  they  had  in  him  a  confidence  which,  as  his  after¬ 
life  showed,  was  in  no  way  misplaced.  Dr  Alex¬ 
ander’s  letters  show  only  a  natural  and  becoming 
solicitude  when  he  writes  : — 

“  Remember  that  you  breathe  a  poisoned  atmos¬ 
phere.  If  you  lose  the  lively  and  deep  impression 
of  Divine  truth — if  you  fall  into  scepticism  or  even 
into  coldness — you  will  lose  more  than  you  gain 
from  all  the  German  professors  and  libraries  .  .  . 
The  air  which  you  breathe  in  Germany  will  either 
have  a  deleterious  effect  on  your  moral  constitution, 
or  else,  by  the  strength  of  faith  required  to  resist 
its  effects,  your  spiritual  health  will  be  confirmed.” 
His  prayer,  that  his  young  colleague  “  might  be 
kept  from  the  poison  of  neology,”  was  certainly 
fulfilled;  and  there  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  Hodge’s 
stay  in  Europe  had  an  expanding  and  consolidating 
influence  on  his  mind,  which  impressed  itself  after¬ 
wards  on  all  his  work. 

He  first  spent  three  months  in  Paris,  studying 
French,  Arabic,  and  Syriac  with  De  Sacy,  keenly 
observing  Old  World  institutions,  and  preaching 
occasionally  in  the  English  Chapel,  where  he  had 
Thomas  Guthrie  one  day  as  an  appreciative  hearer. 
Then  he  proceeded  to  Germany,  where  he  had  first 
seven  months  in  Halle,  and  then  nearly  a  year  in 
Berlin.  His  journal  and  letters  at  this  time  abound 
in  interesting  references  to  the  state  of  religious  and 
philosophical  opinion  then  prevalent  in  the  country, 
and  also  in  lively  personal  impressions  of  the  dif- 


26 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


ferent  men  of  the  day.  His  German  tutor  in  Halle 
was  George  Muller,  afterwards  of  Bristol.  There  he 
became  acquainted  with  Gesenius,  Jacob,  Niemeyer, 
and,  above  all,  with  Tholuck,  between  whom  and 
himself  a  lifelong  friendship  sprang  up.  His  descrip¬ 
tion  of  Gesenius — afterwards  modified,  however,  on 
hearing  his  clear  and  animated  prelections  in  the 
class-room — is  somewhat  amusing  : — 

“  When  viewed  from  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
these  men  seemed  something  out  of  the  ordinary 
course  of  things,  but  here,  whatever  their  minds 
may  be,  their  bodies  are  made  of  very  vulgar  clay. 
I  have  never  been  so  disappointed  in  my  life  as  in 
the  appearance  of  Gesenius,  who  is  the  first  Hebrew 
scholar  probably  in  the  world.  He  is  not  more 
than  forty  years  old,  frivolous^  and,  what  is  a 
wonder  here,  rather  foppish  in  his  appearance.  He 
has  a  silly  laugh  for  everything  he  says,  and  is  in 
short  the  last  man  I  should  have  selected  from  ten 
thousand  as  a  distinguished  philologist.” 

Hodge’s  regard  for  Tholuck  was  strong  from  the 
first,  and  it  was  thoroughly  reciprocated.  They  were 
both  young  men,  under  thirty,  and  in  their  long 
discussions  and  frequent  walks  together,  found  much 
that  they  held  in  common,  and  not  a  little  that  they 
could  learn  from  one  another.  Tholuck,  being  from 
his  evangelical  piety  a  kind  of  rara  avis,  and  even 
an  object  of  suspicion  and  talebearing  in  Halle,  was 
glad  to  find  in  the  young  American  a  congenial 
spirit.  He  afterwards  writes  to  Hodge  in  Berlin  : — 


LEHRJAHRE  IN  EUROPE. 


27 


“You  have  been  sent  to  me  through  God’s  mercy  as 
a  messenger  of  glad  tidings,  as  a  comforter  in  cheer¬ 
less  hours,  as  an  elder  brother  to  show  me  the  simple 
way  to  heaven.”  And  as  late  as  1877,  Tholuck  sent 
his  friend  a  copy  of  his  own  photograph,  with  warm 
expressions  of  undying  love. 

Hodge  came  more  or  less  into  contact  with  such 
men  as  Twesten,  Ritter,  Baumgarten  -  Crusius, 
Schleusner,  Heubner,  Blumenbach,  Liicke,  Nitzsch, 
and  Krummacher,  his  references  to  whom  are  inter¬ 
esting,  but  cannot  here  be  instanced.  In  Berlin  he 
heard  Hengstenberg,  Schleiermacher,  Marheinecke, 
Baron  Humboldt,  and  others.  But  there  he  especially 
came  under  the  influence  of  Neander,  that  prince  of 
German  theologians,  who  not  only  valued  him  as  a 
pupil,  but  received  him  warmly  as  a  personal  friend. 
Tholuck  was  for  a  time  in  Berlin,  and  the  three 
used  to  have  long  and  animated  discussions  on 
questions  such  as  inspiration  and  predestination, 
after  which  Neander  would  say  kindly  to  Tholuck, 
at  parting — “Tell  our  friend  Hodge  that  though  we 
dispute  with  him,  we  belong  to  the  same  Lord,  and 
are  one  at  heart.”  Here  is  how  Neander  outwardly 
impressed  Hodge  the  first  time  he  saw  him  : — 

“He  is  rather  an  old-looking  man  for  thirty-five, 
has  much  of  the  Jewish  countenance,  and  his  man¬ 
ners,  though  peculiar  and  awkward,  arc  exceedingly 
kind.  The  poor  man  has  studied  himself  almost  to 
death.” 

Tholuck  had  introduced  Hodge  to  Otto  v.  Gerlach, 


28 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


“  the  Wesley  of  Berlin,”  and  other  leaders  of  the 
revival  movement  which  about  that  time  was  stirring 
in  parts  of  Germany.  Hodge’s  sympathies  were,  of 
course,  entirely  with  the  movement,  while  he  was 
quite  alive  to  its  dangers.  These  he  describes,  in 
connection  with  a  sermon  he  heard  by  Krummacher, 
as  being  twofold — -firsts  a  tendency  among  some  few 
of  the  preachers  to  Antinomian  principles ;  and 
second,  a  fondness  for  extravagant  allegorical  inter¬ 
pretations  of  the  Old  Testament. 

He  did  what  he  could  to  advance  the  cause  of 
true  religion  while  in  Berlin.  In  this  endeavour  he 
had  the  warm  co-operation  of  his  house-companion, 
Monod  of  Paris,  and  the  cordial  approval  of  Heng- 
stenberg,  who  felt  closely  drawn  to  the  young 
American  from  his  “simplicity,  modesty,  and  sin¬ 
cerity,”  and  made  a  personal  friend  of  him  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  there  were  “  the  wildest  and  most 
wonderful  stories  about  Hodge  and  Monod  ”  circulat¬ 
ing  among  their  fellow-students. 

But  the  time  came  for  leaving  Berlin.  How  much 
his  residence  there  had  been  appreciated  we  learn 
from  Hodge’s  own  words — “  When  I  bade  my  friends 
farewell,  I  cried  like  a  child.  Neander’s  farewell  I 
shall  never  forget.”  He  took  with  him,  and  left 
behind  him,  many  happy  memories.  On  his  home¬ 
ward  way  he  visited  Gottingen  and  Bonn.  In  the 
former  he  saw,  among  others,  Llicke  and  Ewald.  Of 
the  latter  he  writes  : — “  I  regard  him  as  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  men  I  have  seen  in  Europe.  He  is 


LEHRJAHRE  IN  EUROPE. 


29 


about  twOnty-four,  looks  much  younger,  is  modest  in 
his  manner  even  to  bashfulness,  though  confident 
even  to  arrogance  in  his  writings.”  At  Bonn,  then  a 
university  of  about  only  ten  years’  standing,  he  heard 
Schlegel  lecture,  but  was  disappointed  in  his  appear¬ 
ance  and  manner. 

Before  returning  to  America,  Hodge  paid  his  only 
visit  to  England.  “  With  a  swelling  heart,”  he  says, 
“  I  trod  upon  the  soil  of  the  mother-country,  which, 
with  all  her  faults,  is  the  most  wonderful  and  admir¬ 
able  the  world  has  ever  seen.”  This  is  exactly  in 
accord  with  the  frequently-expressed  sentiments 
of  his  mature  life,  and  falls  in  with  what  his  bio¬ 
grapher  afterwards  says  of  his  attitude  to  “  the  old 
country :  ” — 

“  Although  heartily  and  conscientiously  an  Ameri¬ 
can  patriot,  maintaining  that  the  United  States  is  a 
nation,  and  loving  it  and  admiring  its  institutions  as 
more  excellent  than  those  of  any  other,  he  was  ever 
proud  of  his  part  in  the  inheritance  of  Anglo-Saxon 
traditions  and  glories.  Great  Britain  was  loved  and 
honoured  as  the  mother-country,  and  her  history  and 
prestige  were  sacred  to  him.  Above  all  was  he  a 
life-long  admirer  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and  the 
history  of  all  his  campaigns  and  battles  was  known 
to  him  in  all  its  various  versions  and  critical  details.” 

His  stay  in  Britain  was  unfortunately  brief.  He 
had  time  to  see  a  little  of  London  and  of  the  English 
universities,  and  to  hear  a  debate  in  the  House  of 
Commons;  but  British  parliamentary  eloquence  does 


30 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


not  appear  to  have  impressed  him  very  favourably, 
for  he  says  he  “  never  heard  so  much  poor  speaking 
in  his  life.”  Edinburgh  he  rapidly  visited,  before  his 
vessel  sailed  from  Liverpool ;  but  not  a  line  of  record 
concerning  that  visit  survives,  and  unfortunately  it 
was  never  to  be  repeated.  About  fifty  years  later,  he 
would  fain  have  been  back  in  the  Scottish  capital,  in 
order  to  be  present  at  the  first  General  Presbyterian 
Council,  held  at  Edinburgh  in  July  1877  ;  but  failing 
health  by  that  time  prevented  the  fulfilment  of  his 
wish. 

On  1 8th  September  1828,  he  reached  his  home  in 
Princeton,  where  family  and  friends  were  met  to  give 
him  their  heartiest  greeting.  In  his  introductory 
lecture,  the  following  winter,  he  enforced  three  con¬ 
siderations  which  his  stay  in  Europe  had  impressed 
upon  himself  These  were,  the  value  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty,  the  importance  of  religious  instruc¬ 
tion  in  the  public  schools,  and  the  intimate  con¬ 
nection  between  speculative  opinion  and  moral 
character.  Under  the  last  head,  he  bore  the 
following  decided  testimony: — “  Whenever  you  find 
vital  piety  —  that  is,  penitence  and  a  devotional 
spirit — there  you  find  the  doctrines  of  the  fall,  of 
depravity,  of  regeneration,  of  atonement,  and  of  the 
Deity  of  Christ.  I  never  saw  or  heard  of  a  single 
individual,  exhibiting  a  spirit  of  piety,  who  rejected 
any  one  of  these  doctrines.” 


V. 


THE  ZENITH  REACHED  :  AND  THE  DAY  OF  JUBILEE. 


“  Why  grieve  that  time  has  brought  so  soon 
The  sober  age  of  manhood  on  ? 


As  idly  should  I  weep  at  noon, 

To  see  the  blush  of  morning  gone.” 


Bryant. 


HE  third  period  of  Hodge’s  life  (1829-40)  now 


began.  Into  the  details  of  it  and  of  those 
which  follow,  we  cannot  and  need  not  enter  at  any 
length.  It  was  a  time  of  considerable  literary 
activity,  carried  on  under  serious  physical  disad¬ 
vantages — a  protracted  malady  in  one  of  his  limbs 
keeping  him  repeatedly,  for  months  together,  on  his 
couch.  His  students  had  to  assemble  in  his  study  : 
and  his  well-known  commentary  on  “  Romans  ”  had 
to  be  written,  for  the  most  part,  as  he  lay  on  his 
back  with  his  leg  in  a  splint. 

His  fame  both  as  a  writer  and  as  a  teacher  now 
steadily  increased.  In  1834,  he  received  the  title  of 
Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Rutgers  College,  New 
Jersey;  and  he  soon  began  to  earn  an  European 
reputation,  as  a  sound  theologian  and  able  contro¬ 
versialist.  He  took  his  due  share  in  politics  as  an 


32 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


old  Whig,  while  that  party  lasted,  and  then  as  a 
Republican — believing  that,  “  when  connected  with 
morality  and  the  character  and  interest  of  a 
country,  politics  is  a  subject  second  only  to  religion 
in  importance.” 

He  likewise  put  forth  his  full  influence  in  the  eccle¬ 
siastical  domain,  in  order  to  guide  the  Church  through 
the  fierce  storms  of  the  Disruption  controversy.  Dr 
Hodge  led  the  Princeton  wing  of  the  Old  School 
party,  which  took  such  a  temperate  view  of  the 
question  at  issue  as  to  fall  under  the  displeasure 
of  the  opposing  extremes.  While  thoroughly  Old 
School  in  sympathy,  they  were  not  in  favour  of  the 
Disruption  policy  of  some  of  the  leaders  ;  and  per¬ 
haps  the  best  vindication  of  the  position  they  then 
took  up  has  since  been  given  in  the  reunion  of  1870. 
At  this  later  date,  Hodge  dared  to  repeat  the  same 
policy  of  independence  ;  because,  while  he  would  not 
divide  the  Church,  he  saw  no  sufficient  reason  then 
for  uniting  the  actually  and  long-divided  branches, 
and  thereby  sinking  what  he  had  come  to  regard  as 
the  peculiar  and  valuable  testimony  of  the  Old  School 
Presbyterian  Church  for  strict  Calvinistic  doctrine. 

In  all  his  controversies,  he  was,  however  emphatic, 
consistently  impersonal  and  even  generous  towards 
his  opponents.  Strife  was  certainly  not  congenial  to 
his  nature.  He  could  not,  and  would  not,  shun  con¬ 
troversy  ;  but  he  always  engaged  in  it  as  a  means, 
not  as  an  end.  The  glimpses  we  have  into  his  home 
life  during  this  period  are  of  the  most  attractive 


THE  ZENITH  REACHED. 


O  J 

kind.  The  supposed  grim  Calvinist  there  softens 
into  the  most  lovable  of  men.  His  study  is  the 
home  of  his  wife,  and  not  only  the  gathering  place 
of  the  entire  family  but  the  highway  of  the  children 
between  the  outside  world  and  the  other  apartments 
of  the  house.  As  was  remarked  by  the  editor  of  the 
Sunday  at  Horne ^  to  whose  pages  the  writer  sent 
some  Princeton  reminiscences  a  few  years  ago — 
“  I  have  seldom  seen  a  man  more  genial  and  attrac¬ 
tive  than  this  representative  of  the  American 
Presbyterians.  Clear  light  did  not  interfere  with 
warm  love  in  good  old  Dr  Hodge  ;  and  I  remember 
his  parlour-study  as  one  of  the  cheeriest  glimpses 
I  had  of  an  American  interior.” 

It  may  be  here  parenthetically  remarked,  that 
they  in  truth  greatly  err,  who  think  or  speak  of  Dr 
Hodge  as  a  “hard  and  dry  Calvinist.”  In  him  it 
was  conspicuously  seen,  how  warm  and  loving  a 
heart  may  beat  beneath  what  some  would  regard  as 
the  cold  steel  of  a  Calvinistic  coat  of  mail.  A  Cal¬ 
vinist,  indeed,  he  was  to  the  backbone — no  member 
of  the  genus  invertebrata  theologica ;  but  he  was 
neither  hard  nor  dry.  This  sufficiently  appears  in 
his  writings  to  all  candid  minds.  Of  them  it  is 
true  that  “  while  there  is  not  one  point  of  the  Cal¬ 
vinistic  system  that  he  obscures,  he  lets  in  upon  it 
the  full  light  of  God’s  love  and  mercy,  till  the 
heart  melts  into  submission  to  His  sovereignty.” 
But  only  those  who  knew  him  personally  could 
appreciate  the  man.  While  he  did  not  seek  to 

C 


34 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


minimise  truth  or  explain  it  away,  he  certainly  did 
not  revel  in  what  some  consider  the  obnoxious  doc¬ 
trines  of  the  Calvinistic  system.  These  he  pro¬ 
pounded  with  all  humility,  and  with  infinite  tender¬ 
ness.  His  senior  colleague,  Dr  Archibald  Alexan¬ 
der,  once  aptly  said,  that  the  mental  constitution  of 
Dr  Hodge  was  “like  that  of  John  Calvin  without 
his  severity.” 

His  biographer  records,  that  Dr  Hodge  wrote  in 
pencil,  with  trembling  lines,  on  one  of  his  Confer- 
e7ice  Papers^  shortly  before  his  death,  that  he 
believed  the  vast  majority  of  the  human  race  were 
to  share  the  beatitudes  and  glories  of  his  Lord’s 
redemption.*  Certainly  the  haters  of  Calvinistic 
theology,  who  wrongly  deem  narrowness  and  acer¬ 
bity  its  necessary  accompaniments,  were  never 
further  from  the  mark  than  in  assuming  that  “the 
pontifex  maximus  of  this  creed  ”  was  “  the  incarna¬ 
tion  of  these  amiable  qualities.”  The  very  reverse 
was  the  case.  The  mention  of  the  love  of  Christ 
would  sometimes,  even  in  the  class-room,  affect  him 
to  tears  ;  and  it  is  in  no  spirit  of  exaggeration 
that  Dr  Boardman  of  Philadelphia,  his  life-long 
friend,  declares — “  Not  Rutherford  himself  was  more 
absorbed  with  the  love  of  Christ.”  His  students 
know,  on  the  other  hand,  how  touching  it  was  to 
hear  him  treat  of  a  subject  so  affectingly  solemn  as 

*  The  salvation,  through  the  merit  of  the  Redeemer,  of  all  children 
dying  in  infancy  was  one  of  the  “recurring  fervours”  of  Dr  Hodge 
in  his  theological  teaching. 


THE  ZENITH  REACHED. 


35 


the  reprobation  of  the  finally  impenitent.  They 
could  not  fail  to  see  in  their  teacher  a  true  disciple 
of  Him  who  wept  over  lost  Jerusalem. 

During  what  may  be  called  the  fourth  section  of 
his  life  (1840-72),  Dr  Hodge  was  at  his  best.  Like 
the  grandest  trees,  he  was  slow  in  reaching  his  fullest 
development.  In  1847,  though  he  had  already 
achieved  no  mean  reputation  on  both  sides  of  the 
ocean,  he  himself  writes : — “  I  feel  that  almost  all 
the  usefulness  of  my  life  is  to  be  crowded  into  the 
coming  ten  years,  should  I  live  so  long.” 

The  events  of  this  period  in  the  Princeton  calendar 
are  easily  told,  but  the  importance  of  some  of  them 
is  not  so  easily  measured.  In  1840,  much  against 
his  own  wish  at  first.  Dr  Hodge  was  transferred 
to  the  Chair  of  Exegetical  and  Didactic  Theology, 
which  subsequent  experience  proved  to  be  his  proper 
sphere,  and  for  which  the  previous  twenty  years  of 
linguistic  and  exegetical  study  and  practice  had  been 
a  most  valuable  preparation.  In  1841,  his  “Way  of 
Life  ”  appeared.  Then  came  numerous  papers  in 
the  Princeton  Review,  to  which  he  contributed  one 
hundred  and  forty-two  articles  in  all,  and  through 
whose  pages,  as  already  hinted,  he  continued  for 
about  half  a  century,  from  first  to  last,  to  mould  the 
current  opinions  of  his  Church  and  country — and 
that  in  the  face  of  opposition  from  very  diverse 
quarters.  His  articles  embraced  a  great  variety  of 
theological  and  ecclesiastical  problems  and  relations : 
and  the  independence  of  his  judgment  often  received 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


36 

striking  testimony  from  the  very  contrariety  of  the 
criticisms  he  had  to  encounter.  His  work  in  the 
Prmceton  Reviezv  alone  would  justify  the  public 
declaration  of  Dr  Shedd,  that  “  Dr  Hodge  has  done 
more  for  Calvinism  than  any  other  man  in  America.” 
A  specimen  of  the  influence  his  papers  wielded  was 
seen  in  the  eager  absorption,  by  thousands  of  copies, 
of  his  article  on  “  The  State  of  the  Country  during 
the  War and  at  more  than  one  crisis  it  was  found 
that  the  single  pen  of  Dr  Hodge,  in  his  Review — 
like  that  of  Hugh  Miller  in  The  Witness — could 
outbid  the  Babel  of  a  thousand  tongues  in  its  influ¬ 
ence  on  public  opinion  and  even  on  public  policy. 
As  early  as  the  year  1846,  his  Church  conferred 
on  him  a  high  token  of  its  respect  and  confldence  by 
choosing  him  moderator  of  the  Assembly,  held 
that  year  in  Philadelphia. 

In  1849,  his  wife  died.  She  was  followed  by  his 
colleagues,  Dr  Samuel  Miller,  in  1850,  and  Dr  Archi¬ 
bald  Alexander,  in  1851.  These  successive  bereave¬ 
ments  DrHodge  felt  most  keenly.  Returningfrom  his 
last  interview  with  Dr  Alexander,  he  exclaimed  to  his 
son  in  an  agony  of  weeping — “  It  is  all  past ;  the 
glory  of  our  Seminary  has  departed.”  This  feeling 
was  natural  for  him  at  such  a  moment,  though  others 
even  then  were  comforted  by  the  thought  which  was 
afterwards  fittingly  expressed,  that  if  their  Elijah  had 
ascended,  Elisha  still  remained  with  his  mantle  and 
a  double  portion  of  his  spirit.  In  1852,  Dr  Hodge 
married  Mrs  Stockton,  a  noble  Christian  lady,  who 


THE  ZENITH  REACHED.  37 

became  a  true  mother  to  his  children  as  well  as  an 
admirable  helpmeet  for  all  his  later  life. 

In  1856-7,  he  wrote  his  commentaries  on  “Ephe¬ 
sians”  and  “Corinthians.”  In  i860,  came  what  he 
regarded  as  the  second  greatest  sorrow  of  his  life, 
the  unexpected  death  of  Dr  Joseph  Addison  Alex¬ 
ander,  who  had  been  appointed  to  his  former  Chair  of 
Oriental  and  Biblical  Literature  twenty  years  before, 
and  during  all  that  time  had  been  to  him  a  kind  of 
second  self. 

On  the  events  of  his  public  life  it  is  unnecessary 
to  dwell.  There  are  few  more  impressive  scenes 
in  it  than  the  occasion  when,  in  the  National  Presby¬ 
terian  Convention  held  in  Philadelphia,  November 
1867,  he  was  brought  forward  to  respond,  in  the 
name  of  all,  to  the  Episcopalian  delegation  which 
was  headed  by  Bishop  M‘Ilvaine,  of  Ohio,  his  old 
school  and  college  friend.  His  closing  words  breathe 
the  true  eloquence  of  a  loving  and  catholic  spirit, 
and  were  delivered  with  such  feeling  that  “  there  was 
scarcely  a  dry  eye  in  the  house.”  We  may  be  par¬ 
doned  for  adding  them,  as  one  more  quotation  : — 

“And  now,  sir,  after  these  fifty  odd  years,  here  we 
stand,  grey-headed,  side  by  side,  for  the  moment 
representatives  of  these  two  great  bodies  of  organised 
Christians,  feeling  for  each  other  the  same  intimate 
cordial  love,  and  mutual  confidence ;  looking,  not 
backward, — not  downward  to  the  grave  beneath 
our  very  feet, — but  onward  to  the  coming  glory. 
Brethren,  pardon  this  personal  allusion,  but  is  there 


38 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


not  something  that  may  be  regarded  as  symbolical 
in  this  ?  Has  not  your  Church  and  our  Church 
been  rocked  in  the  same  cradle  ?  Did  they  not  pass 
through  the  same  Red  Sea,  receiving  the  same  bap¬ 
tism  of  the  Spirit,  and  of  fire  ?  Have  they  not 
uttered,  from  those  days  of  the  Reformation  to  the 
present  time,  the  same  great  testimony  for  Christ 
and  His  Gospel  ?  What  difference,  sir,  is  there 
between  your  Thirty-nine  Articles  and  our  Con¬ 
fession  of  Faith,  other  than  the  difference  between 
one  part  and  another  of  the  same  great  cathedral 
anthem  rising  to  the  skies  ?  Does  it  not  seem  to 
indicate  that  these  Churches  are  coming  together  ? 
We  stand  here,  sir,  to  say  to  the  whole  world,  that 
we  are  one  in  faith,  one  in  baptism,  one  in  life,  and 
one  in  allegiance  to  our  common  Lord.” 

Dr  Hodge’s  own  jubilee  celebration  furnished  the 
most  unique  evidence  of  the  high  place  he  held  in 
the  esteem  and  affection  of  all  the  Churches.  It  was 
the  most  oecumenical  affair  of  its  kind,  perhaps, 
that  has  occurred  in  the  individual  annals  of  Pro¬ 
testant  Christendom.  Though,  as  everybody  knew. 
Dr  Hodge  was  both  a  staunch  Calvinist  and  a  loyal 
Presbyterian,  it  was  appropriately  recognised  that  he 
was  a  man  belonging  to  the  universal  Church  rather 
than  to  any  particular  sect ;  and  hence  Lutherans  as 
well  as  Calvinists — Episcopalians,  Methodists,  Bap¬ 
tists,  and  Independents,  as  well  as  Presbyterians — 
vied  with  each  other  in  showing  the  value  they  set 
upon  such  a  life. 


THE  ZENITH  REACHED. 


39 


During  most  of  the  congratulatory  addresses,  he 
was  reclining,  out  of  sight,  in  the  pulpit  sofa  behind 
the  stage.  When  a  friend  asked  him,  as  they  closed 
— ‘‘  How  did  you  stand  all  that }  ”  “  Why,”  said  he, 

with  a  pleasant  smile,  “  very  quietly  ;  it  did  not 
seem  at  all  to  be  me  they  were  talking  about.  I 
heard  it  all  as  of  some  other  man.”  It  was  the 
testimony  that  day  borne  to  the  unity  of  the  faith, 
and  to  the  common  love  of  all  for  the  same  Gospel 
and  the  same  Lord,  that  he  was  thinking  about. 
His  humility  was  of  the  most  deep  and  unaffected 
kind.  When  one  was  saying  to  him,  “  You  ought  to 
be  a  very  happy  man,  considering  what  you  have 
accomplished,  and  the  universal  feeling  toward 

you - ”  “  Now,  stop  !  ”  said  he,  with  a  wave  of 

the  hand  ;  “  all  that  can  be  said  is,  that  God  has 
been  pleased  to  take  up  a  poor  little  stick  and  do 
something  with  it.  What  I  have  done  is  as  nothing 
compared  with  what  is  done  by  a  man  who  goes  to 
Africa,  and  labours  among  a  heathen  tribe,  and 
reduces  their  language  to  writing.  I  am  not  worthy 
to  stoop  down  and  unloose  the  shoes  of  such  a  man.” 
His  sympathy  with  foreign  missions,  here  indicated, 
was  intense  all  through  his  life. 


VI. 


THE  EVENING  TIME,  AND  THE  NEW  DAY’S  DAWN. 


“  But  an  old  age,  serene  and  bright, 
And  lovely  as  a  Lapland  night, 
Shall  lead  thee  to  thy  grave.” 


Wordsworth. 


“  Hast  thou  not  glimpses  in  the  twilight  here 

Of  mountains  where  immortal  morn  prevails  ? 


Comes  there  not  through  the  silence  to  thine  ear 
A  gentle  rustling  of  the  morning  gales?  ” 


Bryant. 


HARLES  HODGE’S  closing  years  were  singu- 


larly  beautiful.  The  reviewer  had  laid  down 
his  pen,  the  controversialist  had  put  aside  his  armour  ; 
there  was  the  calm  of  evening  and  the  mellowness  of 
autumn  all  about  his  life.  The  writer,  who  was  a 
member  of  his  last  class  in  1878,  can  testify  that  his 
outward  form  was  even  at  that  time  still  erect,  his 
intellect  vigorous  and  clear,  his  emotional  nature  un¬ 
blunted  by  age.  Only  his  body  was  growing  weary, 
and  there  was  an  evident  ripening  for  rest  and  for 
glory.  There  was  in  his  face  an  incomparable 
blending  of  sweetness  and  strength.  If  the  massive 
brow,  the  keen  eye,  and  the  firm-set  mouth  bespoke 
the  theologian,  there  was  a  tender  softening  radi- 


EVENING  TIME,  AND  THE  NEW  DAy’s  DAWN.  4 1 

ance,  an  indescribable  something  about  the  natural 
expression  of  the  face  which  as  clearly  bespoke  the 
mellowed  saint.  Stedfast  on  behalf  of  the  truth,  he 
was,  in  the  view  of  his  students,  so  meek,  and 
gentle,  and  blameless  in  life,  as  almost  to  seem  to 
belie  the  doctrine  of  universal  depravity,  which  was 
a  fundamental  tenet  of  his  creed. 

He  had  many  of  the  characteristics  of  “  the  disciple 
whom  Jesus  loved ;  ”  and  as  we  knew  him  in  his  ripe 
old  age,  he  seemed  already  to  live  more  than  half  in 
heaven.  Yet,  as  before  stated,  he  took  a  lively 
interest  still  in  everything  which  concerned  the  pro¬ 
gress  of  Christ’s  Church  on  earth,  and  he  looked 
abroad  upon  the  world  with  a  hopeful,  though  some¬ 
times  anxious  eye.  We  find  him  writing  to  a  friend 
toward  the  close  of  his  life  : — “  I  am  not  inclined  to 
be  a  laudator  temporis  acti  ;  for  I  really  believe  that 
the  world,  on  the  whole,  is  getting  better,  and  that 
the  cause  of  Christ  is  on  the  advance.  Yet,  at  times, 
I  am  somewhat  startled  at  the  decay  of  faith,  or  the 
prevalence  of  broad  churchism  among  all  denomina¬ 
tions,  and  of  scepticism  among  men  of  the  world. 
Among  the  masses,  speculative  faith  seemed  a  few 
years  ago  to  be  the  rule.  I  fear  the  reverse  is  true 
now.”  As  for  himself,  he  was  increasingly  absorbed 
in  holy  contemplation  on  the  things  unseen,  and 
especially  on  the  character  of  Him  whom  he  con¬ 
stantly  followed,  and  whose  spirit,  in  the  eyes  of 
others,  though  not  his  own,  he  so  beautifully  mirrored. 

I  have  never  had  a  harsh  word  from  one  of  my 


42 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


students,”  Dr  Hodge  could  say,  after  more  than  fifty 
years  among  them.  And  what  wonder,  since  he  won 
from  them  a  filial  regard,  in  which  reverence  itself 
was  swallowed  up  of  love  !  The  kindly  humanity 
that  beamed  habitually  in  his  face  was  a  true 
and  influential  yoke-fellow  to  the  integrity  and 
piety  which  exhaled  from  his  character  and  life. 
His  very  presence  seemed  to  bring  a  benison.  Who 
among  his  pupils  does  not  remember  still  the  glance 
he  was  wont  to  cast  upon  the  class  as  he  entered 
the  class-room  in  the  morning  and  took  his  seat 
upon  the  chair — “a  glance,”  as  one  of  even  his  earlier 
pupils  well  says,  “of  such  beaming  benevolence, 
mingled  with  such  quiet  peace,  that  we  all  felt  he 
had  come  in  the  spirit  of  the  apostle  John  to  teach 
us,  out  of  his  own  deep  spiritual  intuitions,  the 
mystery  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.” 

And,  while  his  closing  years  were  spent  in  almost 
unbroken  calm — tranquil  in  that  faith  which  is  the 
substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things 
not  seen — the  end,  when  it  came,  was  perfect  peace. 
The  aged  patriarch  gently  passed,  on  the  19th  of 
June  1878,  from  the  midst  of  those  he  loved  on 
earth  to  the  bosom  of  his  Lord.  His  last  consecu¬ 
tive  utterance,  designed  to  comfort  a  weeping  rela¬ 
tive,  was  worthy  of  the  expiring  m.oments  of  the 
saintly  logician  : — “To  be  absent  from  the  body  is 
to  be  present  with  the  Lord  ;  to  be  present  with  the 
Lord  is  to  see  Him  ;  to  see  Him  is  to  be  like 
Him.”  Likeness  to  Christ  was  what  he  sought  in 


EVENING  TIME,  AND  THE  NEW  DAy’s  DAWN.  43 

life,  and  death  itself  was  made  his  (i  Cor.  iii.  22)  to 
further  that  blessed  end.  To  him,  if  to  any  man,  the 
words  of  his  country’s  poet  might  be  fittingly  ap¬ 
plied — 

“  This  is  not  Death  !  What  seems  so  is  transition  ; 

This  life  of  mortal  breath 
Is  but  a  suburb  of  the  life  elysian, 

Whose  portal  we  call  Death.” 


VIL 


DR  CHARLES  HODGE  AS  TEACHER,  CHURCHMAN, 

AND  THEOLOGIAN. 

“  Man  goeth  forth  unto  his  work,  and  to  his  labour  until  the  even¬ 
ing. — Psalm  civ.  23. 


‘  ‘  Life  is  too  short  to  waste 
In  critic  peep  or  cynic  bark, 
Quarrel  or  reprimand  ; 

’Twill  soon  be  dark  ; 

Ay,  mind  thine  own  aim,  and 
God  speed  the  mark.” 


Emerson. 


FEW  words  may  be  added  upon  Dr  Hodge 


^  as  a  teacher.  Multifarious  as  his  duties  were, 
it  may  be  truly  said  that  his  professorial  work  was 
never  pushed  by  him  into  a  corner,  but  took  with 
him  the  precedence  of  all  his  other  work.  Through¬ 
out  his  long  career  he  was,  first  of  all,  and  all  through, 
a  teacher ;  and  certainly  his  fifty  years  of  patient 
and  enthusiastic  labour  in  this  capacity,  among  the 
three  thousand  or  more  students  who  came  under  his 
personal  influence,  will  continue  to  be  productive 
long  after  the  din  of  the  controversies,  which  now 
and  again  perforce  engaged  him,  has  been  not  only 
hushed  but  quite  forgotten. 

In  his  class,  where  his  work  on  Systematic  The- 


AS  TEACHER,  CHURCHMAN,  THEOLOGIAN.  45 


ology  was  latterly  used  as  a  text-book,  Dr  Hodge 
conducted  the  teaching  with  weight,  zeal,  and  pre¬ 
cision  to  the  very  last.  He  was  always  ready  to 
answer  questions  and  to  face  reasonable  difficulties 
presented  by  the  students.  His  mind  was  stored 
with  interesting  reminiscences  of  notable  men  and 
remarkable  scenes  and  episodes ;  and  he  had  a 
peculiar  delight  in  recalling  the  experiences  of  those 
early  days  which  he  spent  in  Germany  with  men 
like  Tholuck  and  Scheiermacher,  and  in  company 
with  such  fellow-students  as  Julius  Muller,  who  died 
about  the  same  time  as  himself  at  Halle. 

Professor  Benjamin  B.  Warfield,  now  himself  the 
honoured  occupant  of  Dr  Hodge’s  theological  chair, 
gives  an  apt  description  of  his  mode  of  teaching 
exegesis,  which,  with  necessary  modifications  arising 
out  of  the  nature  of  the  subject,  very  vividly  recalls 
his  style  in  the  class  of  Didactic  Theology  as  well : — 
“  After  his  always  strikingly  appropriate  prayer  had 
been  offered,  and  we  were  settled  back  into  our  seats, 
he  would  open  his  well-thumbed  Greek  Testament — 
on  which  it  was  plain  that  there  was  not  a  single 
marginal  note — look  at  the  passage  for  a  second,  and 
then,  throwing  his  head  back  and  closing  his  eyes, 
begin  his  exposition.  He  scarcely  again  glanced 
at  the  Testament  during  the  hour  :  the  text  was 
evidently  before  his  mind,  verbally,  and  the  matter  of 
his  exposition  thoroughly  at  his  command.  In  an 
unbroken  stream  it  flowed  from  subject  to  subject, 
simple,  clear,  cogent,  unfailingly  reverent.  Now  and 


46 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


then  he  would  pause  a  moment,  to  insert  an  illustra¬ 
tive  anecdote — now  and  then  lean  forward  suddenly 
with  tearful,  wide-open  eyes  to  press  home  a  quick- 
risen  inference  of  the  love  of  God  to  lost  sinners. 
But  the  web  of  his  discourse — for  discourse  it  really 
was — was  calm,  critical,  and  argumentative.  We 
were  expected  to  take  notes  upon  it,  and  to  recite  on 
them  at  our  next  meeting.” 

Always  earnest  in  the  class-room,  he  was  never 
morose.  His  powerful  face  wore  a  habitual  expres¬ 
sion  of  refined  geniality,  which  at  times  would  relax 
into  a  smile,  as  a  student  recalled  unwittingly  some 
incident  of  the  past.  The  writer,  for  instance,  who 
happens  to  be  a  Scotchman,  was  being  examined  one 
day  on  the  Sacraments.  He  was  asked  to  give  the 
Shorter  Catechism  definition  of  baptism,  and  had 
proceeded  a  little  way,  when,  under  the  impression 
that  he  had  begun  the  wrong  answer,  he  stopped 
short.  Doctor  Hodge,  with  a  naive  smile,  remarked 
— ‘‘You  are  the  first  Scotchman  I  ever  caught!” 
But  by  this  time  the  student  had  got  on  the  rails 
again,  and  glided  swiftly  to  the  end,  without  further 
let  or  hindrance,  to  the  amusement  of  the  class. 
“  That  reminds  me,”  said  the  Doctor  quietly,  “  of  a 
Scotch  lady  I  once  knew,  who,  when  asked  to  repeat 
the  sixth  commandment,  replied  :  ‘  I’ll  soon  do  that, 
if  you’ll  only  start  me.’  ”  It  is  related  that,  on 
another  occasion,  he  asked  a  student  what  the 
Apostle  Paul  meant  by  the  expression — “  I  am  sold 
under  sin.”  “  That  he  was  taken  in  or  deceived  by 


AS  TEACHER,  CHURCHMAN,  THEOLOGIAN.  47 


sin,”  said  the  student.  “  Oh  no,”  replied  the  Doctor, 
with  a  quiet  twinkle  in  his  eye — “  Paul  wasn’t  a 
Yankee.” 

The  professors  and  students  of  Princeton  Semin¬ 
ary  are  wont,  on  Sunday  afternoons,  to  hold  a  con¬ 
ference  together  on  some  religious  theme.  In  these 
meetings  it  was  fully  seen  that  Dr  Hodge’s  theology 
had,  at  all  points,  a  warm  living  religion  correspond¬ 
ing  with  it.  And  there  it  was,  as  nowhere  else 
perhaps,  that  the  “  old  Doctor  ”  made  his  power  felt, 
as,  with  glistening  eye  and  quivering  lip,  he  bent 
forward  to  press  home  some  practical  truth  that  had 
a  powerful  hold  on  his  own  inner  experience.  He 
seemed  to  yearn  over  his  young  disciples  as  Paul  did 
over  Timothy ;  and  every  week  he  spoke  as  ear¬ 
nestly  and  tenderly  as  though  it  might  be  his  last. 

It  is  no  part  of  the  object  of  this  paper  to  gauge, 
in  any  judicial  sense,  the  general  worth  of  the  elder 
Hodge.  The  language  of  eulogy  rises  so  naturally 
to  the  lips  of  every  pupil  of  the  venerated  Princeton 
divine,  as  to  require  distinct  repression  in  speaking 
of  him  to  those  who  did  not  come  under  the  spell  of 
his  personality.  Enough,  if  this  sketch  serve  to 
focus  some  of  the  leading  outlines  of  the  character 
and  influence  of  one  whom  it  is  a  joy  unspeakable  to 
have  known  and  loved. 

Nor  is  it  sought  to  give  a  formal  estimate  here  of 
his  place  either  as  a  churchman  or  as  a  theologian. 

Those  desirous  to  study  Hodge  in  the  former 

*  See  note,  p.  1 18. 


48 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


capacity  cannot  do  better  than  turn  to  the  volume 
on  “  The  Church  and  its  Polity,”  which,  though 
published  after  his  death,  was  compiled  during 
Dr  Hodge’s  lifetime,  and  with  his  cordial  approval, 
chiefly  from  the  long  series  of  ‘‘Assembly  Articles” 
contributed  by  him  to  the  Prmceton  Review  between 
the  years  1835  and  1867.  It  is  in  a  sense  the  com¬ 
plement  to  his  “Systematic  Theology” — to  which 
the  author,  but  for  the  infirmities  of  age,  would  him¬ 
self  have  appended  a  fourth  volume  on  Ecclesiology. 
To  some  minds  the  work  as  it  stands  may  present 
even  certain  advantages  over  a  more  fully  rounded 
and  ostensibly  complete  treatise  on  so  large  a  theme. 
The  first  part,  indeed,  deals  in  a  systematic  way 
with  Preliminary  Principles — discussing  such  themes 
as  the  idea  of  the  Church,  its  visibility,  perpetuity, 
and  relations.  But  the  volume  is  chiefly  occupied 
with  the  Application  of  Principles,  and  exhibits  the 
author  as  he  thought  and  acted  in  the  various  stages 
of  his  long  ecclesiastical  career.  It  presents  him, 
not  as  the  abstract  systematizer,  but  as  the  keen  and 
influential  churchman  —  face  to  face  with  living 
questions  and  causes  celebres^  the  principles  underly¬ 
ing  which  it  was  his  business  to  elucidate,  for  the 
guidance  of  minds  less  calm,  or  less  penetrative  and 
far-reaching  than  his  own.  The  whole  structure  of 
Dr  Hodge’s  mind  not  only  enabled  but  impelled  him 
to  disentangle  the  permanent  and  guiding  element 
in  such  cases  from  its  temporary,  circumstantial 
setting ;  but  the  circumstances  serve  to  give  a 


AS  TEACHER,  CHURCHMAN,  THEOLOGIAN.  49 


historic  root  to  the  discussion,  and  a  human  interest 
and  verve  to  the  style,  which  make  the  book  a  highly 
acceptable  as  well  as  valuable  legacy  of  practical 
wisdom  to  the  churches. 

As  regards  Dr  Hodge’s  place  as  a  theologian,  the 
opinion  may  be  simply  recorded  that,  confining  our 
view  even  to  one  of  his  works — his  magnum  op2is 
on  ‘‘  Systematic  Theology  ” — the  name  of  Charles 
Hodge  is  not  likely  to  be  dimmed  for  many  a  decade 
by  the  name  of  any  other  English-speaking  authority 
on  the  great  subject  he  so  comprehensively  and 
learnedly  treats.  We  once  heard  a  young  gentle¬ 
man,  of  the  twentieth  Century  school,  declare,  that 
Hodge  was  the  greatest  incubus  on  theological 
“  progress  ”  that  this  century  has  seen.  Even  here 
there  was  an  unintended  tribute  to  the  strong  quali¬ 
ties  and  sterling  services  of  the  Princeton  divine, 
and  a  sincere,  albeit  rather  petulant,  acknowledg¬ 
ment  of  his  wide  and  lasting  influence. 

The  testimony  of  a  man  like  Prof  C.  P.  Krauth — 
the  greatest  Lutheran  authority  in  the  English 
language — to  the  ability  and  fairness  of  Dr  Hodge’s 
great  work,  is  worth  more  than  an  infinite  number  of 
such  verdicts  as  the  one  just  quoted.  After  praising 
its  luminous  style,  in  opposition  to  “  those  who  think 
that  nothing  is  deep  but  what  is  unintelligible,”  and 
commenting  on  the  evidences  of  enormous  yet  reflec¬ 
tive  reading  with  which  the  work  abounds — “  read¬ 
ing  among  the  best  books  and  the  worst  books  :  a 
gathering  of  honey  for  stores  and  of  poisons  for  the 

D 


50 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


study  of  antidotes  ” — he  gives  expression  without 
stint  to  his  deep  sense  of  “  the  value  of  Dr  Hodge’s 
book  to  our  common  Christianity,  nay,  in  a  wide 
sense,  to  religion,  on  that  broader  definition  in  which 
the  believing  Jew  has  a  common  interest  with  the 
Christian.”  Its  prevailing  character,  according  to 
this  discriminating  critic,  is  mild,  quiet,  firm, 
judicious,”  while  its  general  tone  is  ‘‘profoundly 
devout.”  Then  he  adds:  “Its  solid  judgment  and 
learning  will  mark  it  to  scholars  as  the  ablest  work 
in  its  department  in  English  literature ;  but  it  is  more 
than  this,  better  than  this.  The  graces  of  Christian 
life  are  not  repressed  in  it,  as  they  have  often  been 
in  the  arid  formulating  of  systems.  ...  In  Dr 
Hodge’s  body  of  Divinity  there  is  a  heart  whose 
beat  is  that  of  the  fullest  health — and  you  can  touch 
the  system  nowhere  without  feeling  a  pulse.  It  is  a 
book  for  the  affections.”  Especially  noteworthy  is 
the  attribution  to  Dr  Hodge,  from  such  a  quarter, 
of  indisputable  fairness.  “  Even  in  its  relative 
isolation  as  distinctively  Calvinistic,  Dr  Hodge’s 
book  is  invaluable.  It  is  the  gauge  of  the  type 
of  Calvinism  which  is  considered  by  its  ablest 
living  representatives  as  tenable ;  a  Calvinism  so 
gentle  in  its  spirit  as  to  furnish  irenical  elements 
of  the  most  hopeful  kind.  .  .  .  Next  to  having 
Dr  Hodge  on  one’s  side,  is  the  pleasure  of  having 
him  for  an  antagonist ;  for  where  conscientious 
men  must  discuss  a  subject,  who  can  express  the 
comfort  of  honourable,  magnanimous  dealing  on 


AS  TEACHER,  CHURCHMAN,  THEOLOGIAN.  5  I 

both  sides  ?  .  .  .  Dr  Hodge  constitutes  in  himself  a 
distinct  evidence  of  Christianity,  and  alike  in  what 
he  writes  and  what  he  is,  vindicates  the  supremacy  of 
Protestant  culture.” 

The  “  Systematic  Theology  ”  has  no  doubt  its 
faults.  There  is  a  tendency  to  overlapping  sometimes 
in  divisions,  and  a  certain  occasional  diffuseness, 
which  may  be  readily  explained,  we  believe,  by  the 
circumstances  of  its  composition.  The  work  might 
perhaps,  with  advantage,  be  considerably  condensed 
by  a  competent  hand  ;  and  a  one-volume  analysis, 
we  have  often  thought,  would  be  a  useful  accompani¬ 
ment  to  the  complete  work.  But,  after  all  that  may 
be  said,  the  fact  remains,  that  Hodge’s  “  Systematic 
Theology  ”  is  the  modern  masterpiece  of  English 
dogmatic,  and  its  detractors  will  have  to  try  very 
hard  and  very  long  before  they  will  dislodge  it 
with  anything  more  useful  and  abiding.  It  will 
live,  in  spite  of  nibbling  critics,  as  the  greatest 
systematic  work  in  theology  of  the  age — the  produc¬ 
tion  of  an  imperial  intellect,  which  was  balanced, 
amid  laborious  research  and  abstruse  speculation,  by 
rare  soundness  and  sagaciousness  of  natural  judg¬ 
ment,  and  by  what,  though  less  common,  is  not  less 
important,  an  all  -  pervading  reverence  for,  and 
sympathy  with,  the  revealed  truth  of  God. 

This  last  feature  of  sympathic  reverence  for  God’s 
word  was  distinctive  of  Dr  Charles  Hodge  alike  as 
teachj^r  and  as  man.  It  was  a  trait  that  could  not 
‘  fail  to  impress  every  one  of  the  successive  companies 


52 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


of  young  men  who  found  in  him  their  Christian 
Gamaliel.  Investigation,  he  would  say,  is  good. 
Search  the  Scriptures :  prove  all  things.  But  see 
that  your  search  is  reverent,  and  that  your  proof 
is  sound..  It  has  been  truly  said  of  him  that  he 
was  a  philosopher  as  well  as  a  theologian,  but  that 
he  never  sought  to  ally  philosophy  as  on  equal 
terms  with  Bible  truth — his  very  mastery  of  philo¬ 
sophy  enabling  him  to  keep  it  in  its  proper  place. 

On  the  last  New  Year’s  Day  of  the  old  Doctor’s 
life,  I  visited  him  in  his  study,  and  asked  him 
for  a  motto.  With  a  kindly  smile,  the  old  man 
wrote  in  a  firm  hand,  “  Thy  Word  is  truth.”  Ere  half 
the  year  had  run  its  course,  the  hand  that  wrote  it 
was  mouldering  in  the  dust.  But  the  treasured  motto 
still  abides.  It  was  at  once  the  motto  of  Charles 
Hodge’s  inner  life,  and  the  key  to  his  theological 
method.  It  is  the  motto  he  has  bequeathed  to 
the  younger  generation,  who  are  entering  on  an 
age  of  new  proclivities,  and  are  called  to  grapple 
with  problems  of  their  own  —  “Thy  Word  is 
TRUTH.” 


VIIL 


HODGE  THE  YOUNGER  CONTRASTED  WITH  HIS 

FATHER. 

“  Both,  heirs  to  some  six  feet  of  sod, 

Are  equal  in  the  earth  at  last ; 

Both,  children  of  the  same  dear  God, 

Proved  title  to  an  heirship  vast 
By  record  of  a  well-filled  past ; 

A  heritage,  it  seems  to  me, 

Well  worth  a  life  to  hold  in  fee.” 

Lowell. 

IT  has  sometimes  been  found  that  a  distinguished 
paternity  is  more  of  a  burden  than  of  an  advan¬ 
tage  in  the  race  of  life.  But  Archibald  Alexander 
Hodge,  to  whom  the  reader’s  attention  is  now  called, 
held  a  place  all  his  own  in  the  affection  and  esteem  of 
the  Church,  and  his  was  an  individuality  too  great  to 
be  dwarfed  by  comparison  with  even  such  a  father. 

In  some  departments,  indeed,  the  younger  Hodge 
did  not  so  much  as  come  into  competition  with  the 
elder.  Even  had  he  lived  as  long,  he  would  never, 
for  instance,  have  been  as  voluminous  an  author ; 
for  he  was  constitutionally  averse  to  “  the  drudgery 
of  writing.”  The  editorial  tact  and  patience  which 
carried  TJie  Princeton  Review,  “ball  and  chain,”  for 
well-nigh  half-a-century,  and  made  a  success  of  it 


54 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


all  the  time,  were  doubtless  quite  beyond  him.  Nor 
would  he  ever  have  grown  into  the  ecclesiastical 
statesman  his  father  was  ;  for,  although  when  he 
spoke  in  church  courts  his  voice  was  always  listened 
to  with  marked  respect,  the  guidance  of  church 
polity  and  the  settlement  of  cases  did  not  lie  much 
in  his  way. 

On  the  other  hand.  Dr  A.  A.  Hodge  showed  a 
capacity  at  times  to  travel  where  his  father  might 
admire  more  easily  than  follow  him.  Not  only  may 
it  be  said  that  the  great  qualities  of  Dr  Charles 
Hodge  as  a  theological  thinker  were  inherited  at  their 
best  by  his  eldest  born — his  intuitive  insight,  his 
analytic  power,  his  logical  force,  his  comprehensive¬ 
ness  of  vision  with  respect  to  the  relations  of  truth, 
his  absolute  intellectual  honesty.  Not  only  may  it 
be  added  that,  on  the  emotional  side  of  his  nature, 
when  the  upper  crust  was  pierced,  the  younger 
Hodge  was  even  more  tender  and  warmly  devo¬ 
tional,  if  that  were  possible,  than  the  saintly 
patriarch  who  by  eight  brief  years  preceded  him  to 
heaven.  But  there  was  in  him,  besides,  an  unmis¬ 
takable  dash  of  that  indescribable  something  which 
we  call  ge7tius ;  giving  to  his  other  faculties  their 
peculiar  range,  and  to  his  other  qualities  their  quite 
peculiar  charm ;  playing  in  eccentric  humour,  or 
flashing  in  occasional  great  thoughts ;  glowing  in 
pathos  or  in  scorn,  or  calmly  beaming  in  the 
luminousness  of  some  poetic  fancy.  Dr  Paxton, 
who  gave  the  address  at  his  funeral  on  November 


HODGE  THE  YOUNGER. 


55 


15th,  1886,  referred  to  this  “transcendent  some¬ 
thing  ”  in  Dr  A.  A.  Hodge,  which  those  who  really 
knew  him — not  the  readers  of  his  books,  but  his 
personal  intimates  and  his  students — could  not  fail 
to  recognise : — “  the  peculiarities  and  the  eccen¬ 
tricities  of  genius,  but  also  its  sublimities,  the 
mighty  elements  of  great  thinking,  the  higher  attri¬ 
butes  of  power  and  influence.”* 

*  “Funeral  Address,”  by  William  M.  Paxton,  D.D.  (Anson  D. 
Randolph  &  Co.,  New  York),  p.  16. 


IX. 


SEA-SICKNESS,  BUT  NOT  IN  THEOLOGY. 


“We  sail  the  sea  of  life  ;  a  calm  one  finds, 


And  one  a  tempest.” 


Wordsworth. 


‘  ‘  A  wide  sea  voyage  severs  us  at  once.  It  makes  us  conscious  of 
being  cast  loose  from  the  secure  anchorage  of  settled  life,  and  sent 
adrift  upon  a  doubtful  world.”  Washington  Irving. 

IT  was  in  August  1877  that  I  first  met  the 
younger  Hodge.  It  happened  in  this  wise.  As 
I  entered  the  office  of  the  Anchor  Line  in  Glasgow 
to  secure  a  berth  for  New  York,  another  intending 
passenger,  as  could  be  gathered  from  his  enquiries, 
was  just  leaving  it.  He  was  a  man  of  about  middle 
height  and  moderate  portliness,  with  a  brow  both 
broad  and  high,  and  a  face  marked  with  deep  re¬ 
flective  lines,  and  rather  sombre  otherwise,  but  lit 
up  by  an  eye  of  great  kindliness  and  deep-seeing 
intelligence.  One  could  not  have  detected  the  cleri¬ 
cal  profession  beneath  the  rather  nonchalant  tra¬ 
veller’s  attire,  though  perhaps  the  epaulette-looking 
shoulders  of  the  coat — broadened  a  la  Ainericaine — 
and  certain  indications  of  manner  and  address 


SEA-SICKNESS,  BUT  NOT  IN  THEOLOGY.  57 

might  have  suggested  the  nationality  of  the  wearer, 
even  had  the  spoken  accent  not  revealed  it.  He  was 
plainly  an  American,  and  we  were  not  long  on  board 
the  good  ship  Devojiia  without  discovering  in  him 
Dr  Archibald  Alexander  flodge. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  on  the  voyage  out  I  came 
to  know  much  of  my  future  teacher.  It  was  the  year 
of  the  first  Pan-presbyterian  council  in  Edinburgh, 
and  there  were  trans-Atlantic  divines  on  board  who 
took  a  much  more  prominent  place  than  he  in  the 
transient  ship-board  “society.”  To  speak  frankly,  the 
Professor  was  but  a  sorry  sailor ;  and  though  there 
were  lucid  intervals,  when  he  might  be  heard  enter¬ 
ing  with  much  zest  and  power  into  discussion  with 
Dr  Sloane  of  Alleghany  and  other  clerical  com¬ 
patriots,  he  presented  for  the  most  part  a  rather 
woe-begone  appearance,  which  was  the  reverse-  of 
prepossessing  to  an  intending  catechumen.  I 
could  afterwards  appreciate,  better  than  most  of 
the  students,  the  deep  experimental  sincerity  of 
his  seeming  playful  irony — “There’s  a  great  deal  of 
sea-sickness  in  theology,  till  you  get  your  sea 
legs  on, — sky,  and  land,  and  water  all  mixed  !  ” 

He  would  be  a  bold  man  who  would  guarantee  that 
the  Professor  ever  did  completely  find  his  sea  legs 
during  that  voyage.  But  when,  after  the  interval  of 
a  few  weeks  from  disembarking,  I  met  him  again  in 
the  class-room,  he  was  plainly,  in  colloquial  phrase, 
another  man.  There  was  no  sea-sickness  with  him 
there :  he  manifestly  was  “  himself  again.”  And 


58 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


from  the  beginning  of  the  session  to  its  close,  it  was 
a  daily  enjoyment  to  sit  at  his  feet. 

More  will  be  said  later  of  his  characteristic  merits 
as  a  teacher.  In  the  meantime,  some  biographical 
particulars  may  be  appropriately  inserted  here. 


■  / 


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X. 


BIRTH  AND  BOYHOOD  OF  A.  A.  HODGE. 

‘  ‘  A  sudden  rush  from  the  stairway, 

A  sudden  raid  from  the  hall  ! 

By  the  doors  I  have  left  unguarded 
They  enter  my  castle  wall  ! 

“  They  climb  up  into  my  turret, 

O’er  the  arms  and  backs  of  my  chair  ; 

If  I  try  to  escape,  they  surround  me. 

They  seem  to  be  everywhere. 


“  I  have  you  fast  in  my  fortress. 

And  will  not  let  you  depart. 

But  put  you  into  the  dungeon 
In  the  round  tower  of  my  heart. 

“  And  there  will  I  keep  you  for  ever. 

Yes,  for  ever  and  a  day. 

Till  the  walls  shall  crumble  to  ruin, 

And  moulder  in  dust  away  !  ” 

Longfellow's  “Children’s  Hour.” 

Archibald  Alexander  Hodge  was  born  in 
Princeton,  New  Jersey,  on  the  i8th  of  July 
1823.  It  was  in  the  preceding  year  that  his  father. 
Dr  Charles  Hodge,  had  been  appointed  with  his  re¬ 
vered  former  teacher.  Dr  Archibald  Alexander,  as  Pro¬ 
fessor  of  Oriental  and  Biblical  Literature  in  Princeton 
Seminary  ;  and  after  this  great  and  good  man,  the 


6o 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


Socrates  ”  of  the  Princeton  school,  he  named  his 
first-born  son.  The  boy’s  mother,  as  noted  in  the 
foregoing  sketch,  was  Sarah  Bache,  the  great-grand¬ 
daughter  of  Benjamin  Franklin  :  and  it  is  possible 
that  some  of  his  distinctive  qualities  may  be  trace¬ 
able  to  her. 

He  had  the  untold  advantage  in  early  years  of 
nurture  in  a  genuinely  pious  home.  As  appears  from 
his  biography  of  his  father,  his  memories  of  his  child¬ 
hood  continued  through  life  to  be  of  the  sunniest 
kind.  What  could  be  more  beautiful  than  the  follow¬ 
ing  picture  of  home  life,  in  the  glimpse  it  gives  of 
Charles  Hodge  among  his  little  ones  : — “  They  were, 
at  every  age  and  at  all  times,  allowed  free  access 
to  him.  If  they  were  sick,  he  nursed  them.  If 
they  were  well,  he  played  with  them.  If  he  were 
busy,  they  played  about  him.  His  study  had  two 
doors,  one  opening  outward  toward  the  Seminary  for 
the  convenience  of  the  students,  and  a  second  one 
opening  inward,  into  the  main  hall  of  the  home. 
Hence  his  study  was  always  the  family  thoroughfare, 
through  which  the  children,  boys  and  girls,  went  in 
and  out  for  work  and  play.  When  he  was  too  lame, 
and  afterwards  when  he  was  too  busy,  to  be  inter¬ 
rupted  by  that  action,  he  took  the  latch  from  the 
doors  and  caused  them  to  swing  in  obedience  to 
gentle  springs,  so  that  the  least  child  might  toddle  in 
at  will  unhindered.” 

As  is  often  in  such  circumstances  the  case,  Archi¬ 
bald  never  could  recall  the  time  when  he  was  not 


BIRTH  AND  BOYHOOD  OF  A.  A.  HODGE.  6  I 


under  religious  impressions.  Though  all  must  be 
born  again  to  enter  the  Kingdom,  it  is  not  laid  upon 
all  to  pass  consciously  through  the  throes  that  some 
natures  have  to  suffer  in  the  day  of  their  regenera¬ 
tion  :  and  what  minister  does  not  know  that  among 
his  flock  some  of  the  most  devoted  and  living 
members — those  in  whom,  if  in  any,  the  image  of 
Christ  is  seen  and  the  power  of  Christ’s  resurrection 
manifested — are  they  in  whom,  for  aught  that  they 
themselves  can  tell,  the  new  birth  was  contem¬ 
poraneous  with  the  old  ?  Young  Hodge  did  not  by 
his  own  act  ‘‘join  the  Church”  till  1842;  but  long 
before  that  time  God’s  spirit  had  been  making  His 
power  felt  within  him,  in  connection  with  the  sacred 
influences  exerted  on  his  young  heart  within  the 
home.  The  bright  picture  just  given  of  Charles 
Hodge  among  his  family  had  its  distinctively  re¬ 
ligious  side,  to  bring  out  which  we  have  but  to  con¬ 
tinue  the  quotation  : — “  He  prayed  for  us  all  at 
family  prayers,  and  singly,  and  with  such  soul-felt 
tenderness  taught  us  to  pray  at  his  knees,  that, 
however  bad  we  were,  our  hearts  all  melted  to  his 
touch.  During  later  years  he  always  caused  his 
family  to  repeat  after  him  at  morning  worship  the 
Apostles’  Creed,  and  a  formula  of  his  own  composi¬ 
tion,  professing  personal  consecration  to  the  Father, 
and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost.  But  that 
which  makes  those  days  sacred  in  the  retrospect  of 
his  children  is  the  person  and  character  of  the 
father  himself,  as  discovered  in  the  privacy  of  his 


62 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


home,  all  radiant  as  that  was  with  love,  with  un¬ 
wavering  faith,  and  with  unclouded  hope.”  ^ 

Another  important  influence  brought  to  bear  on 
young  Hodge  within  his  father’s  house  was,  the 
contact  into  which  he  was  naturally  brought  there 
with  some  of  the  brightest  intellects  of  his  time.  It 
was  a  valuable,  though  partly  unconscious  education, 
to  be  allowed,  even  from  “the  shadowy  corners”  of 
the  doctor’s  study,  to  look  out  upon  the  scenes  trans¬ 
acted  in  that  sanctum  : — “  Here  almost  every  night, 
for  long  years,  came  Professors  Dod  and  Maclean, 
and  frequently  Professors  J.  W.  Alexander,  Joseph 
Henry,  and  the  older  professors,  A.  Alexander,  and 
Samuel  Miller,  President  Carnahan,  and  frequently, 
when  visiting  the  town.  Professors  Vethake  and 
.Torrey,  and  Dr  John  W.  Yeomans.  Thus,  at  least  in 
the  eyes  of  the  young  sons  gleaming  out  from  the 
corners,  from  the  shadows  of  which  they  looked  on 
with  breathless  interest,  this  study  became  the  scene 
of  the  most  wonderful  debates  and  discourses  on 
the  highest  themes  of  philosophy,  science,  literature, 
theology,  morals,  and  politics.”  f 

*  “Life  of  Charles  Hodge,  D.D.,  LL.D.,”  by  his  son,  A.  A. 
Hodge  (Charles  Scribner’s  Sons,  New  York),  p.  227. 

t  Ibid.,  204. 


XL 


HIS  STUDENT  DAYS  AND  DEPARTURE  FOR  INDIA. 


“  Some  men  serve  God  through  their  ambitions. 
His  ambition  was  to  serve  God.” 


Patton. 


'“A  man’s  life  is  an  appendix  to  his  heart.” 

South. 

RCHIBALD’S  early  intellectual  development 


^  ^  appears,  nevertheless,  to  have  been  compara¬ 
tively  slow.  He  was  by  no  means  a  bookish  boy^ 
and  though  he  could  enjoy  to  some  extent  a  gladia¬ 
torial  contest  of  wits  among  his  seniors  in  the  study, 
it  was  more  to  his  personal  liking  to  try  for  the 
certaminis  gaudia  in  the  field  than  to  wear  out  his 
brain  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge.  But  the  time  of 
mental  quickening  came — and  not,  after  all,  so  very 
late.  For  we  find  that  he  graduated  in  Arts  in  1841, 
and  had  shown,  through  his  course,  such  aptitude  for 
Mathematics  and  Natural  Science,  that  his  services 
were  retained  for  some  time  in  Princeton  College  in 
the  capacity  of  tutor.  Though  his  mind  was  of  a 
decidedly  metaphysical  cast,  the  love  of  physical 
science  was  also  planted  deep  within  him,  and  it 
was  but  natural  that  this  taste,  which  continued  with 


64 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


him  all  through  life,  should  have  shown  itself  earlier 
than  his  even  more  marked  subsequent  aptitude  for 
abstract  speculation.  Among  his  treasured  recollec¬ 
tions  to  the  end,  was  his  early  association  with 
Professor  Henry  in  the  laboratory,  and  his  lasting 
friendship  with  that  distinguished  man. 

In  the  year  1843 — the  Scottish  Disruption  year — 
the  name  of  Archibald  Alexander  Hodge  was  entered 
on  the  roll  of  the  Princeton  Seminary  as  a  student 
in  theology.  Here  new  tastes  and  new  capacities  in 
him  began  to  unfold  themselves.  In  particular,  he 
entered  with  enthusiasm  into  the  study  of  Christian 
doctrine ;  and  it  was  the  opening  of  a  new  era  in  his 
life  when  he  one  day  surprised  his  father  by  sending 
in  an  essay  on  a  difficult  question  of  theology,  of 
such  originality  and  vigour  of  thinking,  that  he  was 
requested  to  read  it  to  the  class. 

About  this  time  (1844)  a  Scottish  visitor  came  to 
Princeton,  on  whom  young  Hodge  looked  with  a  more 
eager  interest,  doubtless,  than  if  he  had  seen  him 
even  a  few  years  before — for  he  could  now  appreciate 
in  him  the  Systematic  Theologian  as  well  as  the 
ecclesiastical  chief — Dr  William  Cunningham,  of 
Edinburgh.  We  find  the  following  interesting  re¬ 
ference  in  Dr  Charles  Hodge’s  biography  to  the 
meeting  of  these  two  giants — par  nobile  fratriun  : — 

I  can  well  remember  the  pleased  excitement  of 
our  father  as  he  lay  back  upon  his  easy  chair  listen¬ 
ing  to  Dr  Cunningham,  as  he  strode  gesticulating 
through  the  study  with  his  long  arms,  laying  down 


HIS  STUDENT  DAYS. 


65 


the  principles  and  narrating  the  story  of  the  great 
Free  Church  exodus ;  or  when  our  father  walked 
with  him  in  the  larger  parlour,  or,  once  or  twice, 
when  the  February  sun  shone  clear,  in  the  paths 
around  the  house,  laying  down  the  principles  and 
narrating  the  story  of  the  great  controversies,  as  to 
slavery.  New  England  theology,  and  voluntary 
societies,  in  which  his  own  part  had  not  been 
insignificant.’’^  We  have  heard  the  younger  Hodge 
declare  that  no  man  sent  by  Scotland  to  Princeton 
had  left  behind  him  so  marked  and  favourable  an 
impression  as  Principal  Cunningham  ;  and  certainly 
what  he  saw  and  heard  of  him  on  the  occasion  of  this 
visit  made  a  lasting  impression  on  himself. 

Archibald  Hodge  graduated  in  1846,  and  was 
licensed  in  October  of  that  year.  To  the  joy  of 
his  father — who  did  more  for  the  heathen  abroad 
than  the  world  knows — he  gave  himself  promptly 
and  decisively  to  the  foreign  field.  There  was 
burning  at  the  young  man’s  heart  a  yearning  desire 
to  make  the  Saviour  known  to  those  who  had  never 
heard  His  name  before,  though  to  his  friends  “  he 
would  say,  in  his  peculiar  semi-serious  way,  that  he 
could  never  preach  at  home — that  he  did  not  know 
enough  to  instruct  intelligent  people,  but  might 
possibly  teach  the  heathen  the  rudiments  of  Christian 
knowledge. ’’i* 

The  Mission  Board  thankfully  accepted  him,  and 

*  “Life  of  Charles  Hodge,  D.D.,  LL.D.,”  p.  354. 

t  “  Funeral  Address,”  p.  9. 


66 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCPI. 


he  was  ordained  at  Princeton,  by  the  Presbytery  of 
New  Brunswick,  in  May  1847,  for  service  at  Alla¬ 
habad.  It  was  an  occasion  that  deeply  stirred  his 
father’s  heart ;  and  one  who  was  present  at  a  meet¬ 
ing  held  in  connection  with  the  departure  of  the 
missionary  and  his  young  wife  {iiee  Elizabeth  B. 
Holliday,  of  Winchester,  Virginia)  for  India,  records 
that  “  his  son’s  choice  called  forth  from  him  one  of 
those  bursts  of  emotional  eloquence  that  thrilled  the 
whole  assembly,  and  produced  impressions  which 
can  never  be  forgotten  by  those  who  heard  it.” 

The  voyage  to  India,  in  August  1847,  had  few 
incidents,  but  it  furnished  Hodge  with  a  notable 
illustration,  in  a  sermon  on  the  Resurrection, 
which,  from  the  account  still  given  of  it,^  must 
have  been  throughout  a  remarkable  one.  We  refer 
to  a  description  of  “  the  albatross  that  followed  his 
ship  on  the  way  to  India,  breasting  the  storm  day 
after  day,  and  when  the  gale  was  most  furious  hold¬ 
ing  itself  on  outstretched  wings  ” — an  incident  which 
was  sublimely  used  to  convey  conceptions  regarding 
the  Resurrection  body. 

We  have  searched  almost  in  vain  for  traces  of  the 
son  in  his  biography  of  his  father — so  religiously 
does  he  keep  himself  in  the  background — but  he 
does  make  mention  of  his  own  departure  for  India 
as  the  first  break  in  the  family  circle — the  first 
experience  of  the  inevitable  separations  which  await 
us  all — adding  :  “  Such  an  experience  makes  an 

*  “  Funeral  Address,”  p.  2i. 


HIS  STUDENT  DAYS. 


67 


epoch  in  any  family,  leaving  it  changed  for  ever. 
Our  family  was  never  completely  regathered  on 
earth  again,  for  before  the  son  returned  from  India 
the  mother  was  making  the  beginnings  of  the  home 
in  heaven.  The  parting  was  the  occasion  of  the 
utter  pouring  forth  of  the  treasures  of  love  of  both 
parents’  hearts.  To  us  these  are  unspeakably  pre¬ 
cious,  but  they  are  too  sacred  to  be  given  here.” 
Dr  Charles  Hodge  records  concerning  his  wife,  in 
his  diary,  at  the  time  of  his  bereavement — “  Her 
death  was  calm,  peaceful,  and  holy.  She  was  full  of 
humility,  faith,  and  grateful,  admiring  love  to  God. 
Her  children,  save  the  eldest,  were  all  about  her.” 
And,  after  quoting  the  epithets  of  affection  graven 
on  her  tombstone  by  the  sorrowing  husband  in  1849, 
the  son,  in  whose  heart  such  a  mother  had  all  these 
years  been  enshrined,  and  who  has  now  gone  to  join 
both  where  there  are  no  partings,  writes  in  1880 — 
“  This  is  indeed  the  outpouring  of  a  bereaved  heart. 
But  it  is  all  true.  And  now  when,  after  twenty-nine 
years,  we,  their  children,  lay  our  father  by  our 
mother’s  side,  and  read  this  inscription  on  her  tomb, 
we  all  say,  ‘  Amen  !  ’  ”  * 

*  “  Life  of  Charles  Hodge,  D.D.,  LL.D.,”  pp.  370-1. 


XII. 


A.  A.  HODGE  AS  MISSIONARY. 

“  Thy  kingdom  come,  O  God  ; 

Thy  rule,  O  Christ,  begin  j 
Break  with  Thine  iron  rod 
The  tyrannies  of  sin.  .  .  . 

“  O’er  heathen  lands  afar. 

Thick  darkness  broodeth  yet ; 

Arise,  O  Morning  Star, 

Arise,  and  never  set.” 

Hensley. 

“  Making  his  life  a  prayer.” 

Whittier. 

Mr  HODGE  did  valuable  service  at  Allahabad, 
while  permitted  to  remain  there ;  and  his 
example  in  setting  forth  was  indirectly  fruitful  in 
inspiring  others  to  a  like  resolve.  But  it  was  soon 
seen  that  India  was  not  to  be  his  life  sphere.  His 
own  health  suffered,  and  his  wife’s,  by-and-bye,  so 
completely  gave  way  that  there  was  no  alternative 
but  to  return  with  their  two  children  to  America, 
after  a  residence  of  less  than  three  years  in  the 
East. 

There  were  two  effects  of  Hodge’s  stay  in  India 
upon  himself,  which  never  left  him.  The  one  was, 
an  intense  admiration  for  British  rule,  which  often 


HODGE  AS  MISSIONARY. 


69 


showed  itself  in  a  half-earnest,  half-jocular  dispar¬ 
agement  of  the  institutions  of  the  Model  Republic. 
The  other  was,  an  abiding  impression  of  the  im¬ 
portance  and  hopefulness  of  the  missionary  cause, 
which,  from  the  time  he  set  foot  in  India,  if  it  did 
not  in  the  same  sense  exist  even  before  then, 
became  an  ineradicable  part  of  himself,  and  made 
him,  wherever  he  might  afterwards  go,  a  living 
missionary  force. 

The  first  feature  just  alluded  to  may  be  illus¬ 
trated  by  the  quotation  of  the  opening  sentences  of 
a  characteristic  letter, — alas,  the  last  received  from 
him  by  the  writer,  of  date  the  24th  June  1886,  the 
summer  "before  he"  died  : — Dear  friend  Salmond, 
“  Excuse  me  for  not  writing  sooner.  I  am  very 
desirous  of  hearing  from  you.  Please  write  often. 
I  have  a  good  deal  of  it  to  do,  and  am  old  and 
lazy.  We  are  all  well,  and  have  just  got  through 
‘  commencement  ’  in  college.  All  things  are  advanc¬ 
ing  prosperously,  and  portend  favourably  for  the 
future.  You  must  not  judge  American  opinion  of 
British  politics  from  our  newspapers.  Under  the 
degrading  conditions  of  modern  civilisation,  the 
contents  of  newspapers  are  dictated  by  those  in¬ 
spired  by  the  passions  of  the  lower  classes.  This 
has  long  been  so  in  America,  and  it  has  now 
become  so  in  Great  Britain.  Poor  souls !  You 
people  who  believe  in  George  Washington  instead 
of  George  IIP,  who  believe  in  extended  suffrage, 
and  who  move  for  disestablishment,  are  the  re- 


70 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


sponsible  fellows.  All  gentlemen  in  America  sym¬ 
pathize  with  the  Unionists  and  Protestants  of  Ulster. 
But  we  have  no  newspaper.  All  gentlemen  are 
monarchists  and  aristocrats.  ‘  Liberty  ’  leads  to 
social  confusion,  to  secular  education,  to  atheism, 
to  chaos, — to  the  howling  void.”  This  letter  will 
be  understood  at  once  by  all  who  were  in  any  real 
sense  acquainted  with  the  writer.  Others  must 
read  it  in  connection  with  what  a  colleague  calls 
“  the  oriental  luxuriance  of  speech  ”  he  sometimes 
allowed  himself,  when  unbending  after  serious  effort : 
and  all  may  find  in  it  an  illustration  of  Professor 
Patton’s  further  discriminating  observation,  that 
“  aristocratic  sympathies  were  very  strong  in  him, 
and  found  expression  sometimes  in  an  extravagant 
avowal  of  Toryism,  that  was  partly  jest  and  partly 
based  upon  a  real  conservatism  of  sentiment  re¬ 
specting  the  philosophy  of  social  life.”  * 

The  other  feature  —  his  ardent  and  sustained 
missionary  zeal — found  expression  in  ways  which 
left  no  room  for  question  either  as  to  the  absolute 
sincerity  or  the  profound  depth  of  his  convictions. 
Long  after  his  return  from  India, — aye,  even  to 
his  last  breath — he  was  a  missionary  at  heart ;  and 
he  would  on  occasion  speak  to  his  students  on  the 
subject  of  the  evangelisation  of  the  world,  not  only 
with  the  authority  of  personal  experience,  but  with 
the  glow  of  an  enthusiasm  which  had  manifestly 

*  “Memorial  Discourse,”  by  Francis  L.  Patton,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
(John  Wanamaker,  Philadelphia),  p.  55. 


HODGE  AS  MISSIONARY. 


71 


felt  it  a  greater  sacrifice  to  leave  the  mission-field 
than  to  give  up  home  to  enter  it.  In  his  prayers, 
too,  the  same  spirit  of  wide-embracing  love  for  the 
perishing  souls  of  heathendom  most  touchingly 
appeared.  At  a  Missionary  Convention  in  Prince¬ 
ton,  not  long  before  his  death,  when  he  was  asked 
to  lead  the  devotions,  ‘‘the  fountain  of  his  heart 
seemed  broken  up,”  as  it  is  recorded,*  “  and  a 
gush  of  tender  moving  petition  melted  the  whole 
assembly  to  tears.”  Prof  Patton’s  statement  is 
here  again  so  pertinent  that  we  cannot  refrain 
from  giving  it  hi  extenso  :  “  His  experience  in  the 
mission-field  enhanced  his  zeal  for  the  mission 
cause,  gave  him  a  grasp  of  the  missionary 
problem,  and  an  interest  in  missionaries  that 
made  him  always  the  trusted  counsellor  of  all 
those  among  his  pupils  who  contemplated  a  mis¬ 
sionary  career.  If  the  students  wished  advice, 
they  went  to  him  ;  if  the  Sunday  evening  mission¬ 
ary  meeting  was  to  be  addressed,  he  was  called 
upon  ;  if,  at  the  Monthly  Concert,  the  expected 
speaker  failed  to  arrive,  he  was  called  upon  ;  if  the 
son  of  a  converted  Brahmin  was  sent  here  to  be 
educated,  he  was  his  guardian  ;  if  a  penniless 
Oriental,  bent  on  knowledge,  and  seeking  it  that 
he  might  carry  back  the  Gospel  to  his  countrymen, 
sought  premature  admission  to  the  Seminary,  he 
found  an  eager  advocate  in  Dr  Hodge,  if  anything 
could  be  said  in  his  behalf ;  and  if,  as  sometimes 


*  “  Funeral  Address,”  p.  20. 


72 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


happened,  it  was  necessary  to  let  him  know  that  his 
coming  was  a  mistake,  kind  words  from  Dr  Hodge, 
and  not  infrequently  a  draft  upon  his  exchequer, 
sent  him  away  in  peace  ;  if  the  Interseminary  Mis¬ 
sionary  Conference  held  its  meetings  at  Hartford, 
Dr  Hodge  must  make  an  address  ;  if  it  met  in 
Princeton,  Dr  Hodge  at  least  must  pray.”*  In 
ways  like  these,  it  will  be  seen,  his  early  disappoint¬ 
ment  was  overruled  for  good.  It  was  “  not  in  vain 
in  the  Lord.”  Not  improbably  he  did  actually 
more  for  missions,  in  a  wide  sense,  than  if  he  had 
been  allowed  to  stay  on  at  Allahabad. 


*  “  Memorial  Discourse,”  p.  13. 


XIII. 


PASTOR,  PREACHER,  AND  PLURALIST  PROFESSOR. 

“  O  use  me,  Lord,  use  even  me, 

Just  as  Thou  wilt,  and  when,  and  where, 

Until  Thy  blessed  face  I  see. 

Thy  rest.  Thy  joy,  Thy  glory  share,” 

Havergal. 

SOON  after  his  return  from  India,  in  May  1850, 
Mr  Hodge  received  a  call  to  a  small  rural 
charge  in  Maryland,  called  Lower  West  Notting¬ 
ham.  There,  on  a  salary  of  fully  six  hundred 
dollars  (;^I20)  a  year,  he  settled  quietly  down  to 
ministerial  duty.  About  five  years  later,  in  Septem¬ 
ber  1855,  he  was  called  to  Fredericksburg,  Virginia. 
Here,  as  before,  he  greatly  endeared  himself  to  the 
people  under  his  pastoral  care  ;  and  he  now  dis¬ 
covered  in  himself,  and  soon  made  others  see  in  him, 
an  unsuspected  gift.  This  was  the  faculty  of  apt 
and  interesting  extemporaneous  speech  in  the  expo¬ 
sition  of  theology — a  gift  which,  when  discovered, 
he  turned  to  such  good  account  that,  by  the  time  he 
was  removed  to  his  next  charge,  in  Wilkesbarre, 
Pennsylvania  (July  1861),  he  and  his  Virginian  flock 
had  travelled  together,  in  church  and  class,  over 


74 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH, 


the  whole  field  of  an  exact  though  popularised 
theology. 

His  “  Outlines  of  Theology  ” — since  translated 
into  various  languages,  and  used  as  a  text-book  in 
many  Divinity  Halls — is  one  very  tangible  outcome 
of  that  course  of  lectures  by  the  Fredericksburg 
pastor.  In  the  preface  to  the  first  edition,  which 
has  been  considerably  augmented  since,  he  himself 
affirms  : — “  The  several  chapters  were,  in  the  first 
instance,  prepared  and  used  in  the  same  form  in 
Avhich  they  are  now  printed,  as  the  basis  of  a  lecture 
delivered  otherwise  extemporaneously  to  my  con¬ 
gregation  every  Sabbath  night.  In  this  use  of  them, 
I  found  these  preparations  successful  beyond  my 
hopes.  The  congregation,  as  a  whole,  were  induced 
to  enter  with  interest  upon  the  study  even  of  the 
most  abstruse  questions.” 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  many  preachers  could 
carry  through  an  entire  course,  such  as  Hodge 
mapped  out,  so  successfully  as  he  ;  for  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  the  audience  would  be  exhausted,  and 
possibly  the  preacher,  long  before  the  subject.  But 
it  is  worthy  of  consideration  by  those  who  are  called 
to  conduct  weekly  pulpit  ministrations,  whether  en¬ 
couragement  may  not  be  found  in  Dr  Hodge’s 
experience  for  a  more  systematic  style  of  preaching 
than  is  commonly  in  vogue,  and  whether  an  ordi¬ 
nary  church  audience  may  not  have  more  appetite 
than  is  generally  supposed  for  doctrine.  It  is  cer¬ 
tainly  important  to  shun  what  some  esteem  the  one 


PASTOR,  PREACHER,  PLURALIST  PROFESSOR.  75 

unpardonable  sin  in  the  pulpit — to  be  “  dry ;  ”  but 
possibly  the  admonition  is  more  needed  in  these 
days,  to  avoid,  by  a  suitable  stiffening  of  doctrine, 
what  is  in  reality  a  yet  graver  fault — to  be  “watery  ” 
and  limp.  Dr  Hodge  knew  how  to  strike  the 
golden  mean.  He  not  only  gave  a  judicious  ad¬ 
mixture  of  doctrine  in  his  discourses  ;  he  preached 
a  whole  system  of  doctrine.  But  there  was  heart 
as  well  as  head  in  his  preaching.  While  the  teach¬ 
ing  was  made  perspicuous  by  analogy,  and  the 
hearer  was  led  on  to  the  acquisition  of  Bible  dog¬ 
mata  by  the  allurements  of  a  fancy  that  could  give 
to  every  theme  it  touched  a  setting  of  clear  light, 
the  conscience  also  was  appealed  to,  and  the  affec¬ 
tions  moved,  and  the  will  bent,  as  the  truth 
expounded  was  at  the  same  time  applied  ;  or,  at 
the  least,  the  enquiry  was  stirred  within  the  breast 
— “  Is  this  truth  anything  to  me  ?  ” 

It  must  not  for  a  moment  be  supposed  that  Dr 
Hodge’s  preaching,  because  systematic,  was  either 
ponderous  or  unproductive.  It  was  weighty,  but  not 
heavy.  It  was  fitted  to  edify,  but  was  also  blessed  to 
quicken.  His  ministry,  whatever  his  stipend  might 
be,  was  in  the  highest  and  directest  sense  a  remu¬ 
nerative  one.  It  was  not  without  seasons  when  the 
pastor’s  heart  was  gladdened  by  a  marked  revival  of 
religion,  during  which  “  many  were  added  to  the 
church  of  such  as  were  being  saved.” 

Dr  Hodge  was  not  permitted  to  remain  more  than 
three  years  in  his  third  charge,  at  Wilkesbarre.  His 


76 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


reputation,  both  as  an  oral  instructor  and  as  a  writer, 
had  by  this  time  begun  to  spread.  In  1862  he  re¬ 
ceived  the  degree  of  D.D.  from  the  college  of  New 
Jersey  (followed  by  that  of  LL.D.  from  Wooster 
University  in  1876),  and  in  July  1864,  he  was  unani¬ 
mously  elected  to  the  Chair  of  Didactic  Theology  in 
Allegheny  Seminary,  Pennsylvania.  Thus  was  de¬ 
finitively  opened  the  influential  professorial  career, 
which  continued  to  grow  in  eminence  and  power  till 
the  autumn  of  1886,  when,  to  speak  after  the  manner 
of  men,  it  was  cut  off  so  prematurely,  and  the  hearts 
of  the  many  who  admired  and  loved  him  were  be- 
gloomed,  by  his  “  sun  going  down  as  at  noonday.” 
Miiltis  ille  Jiehilh  occidit :  nulli  Jiebilior  qiiam  mihi. 

At  Allegheny,  Dr  Hodge  remained  for  thirteen 
years  ;  and  many  a  student  here  caught  the  inspira¬ 
tion  of  his  enthusiasm  for  theology.  He  published 
at  this  time  his  monograph  on  the  “  Atonement  ”  (in 
1867),  and  his  admirable  ^‘Exposition  of  the  Con¬ 
fession  of  Faith  ”  (in  1869),  besides  a  suggestive  little 
book  less  widely  known,  his  “  Questions  in  Theology.” 
It  is  interesting  also  to  note,  that  during  nearly  the 
whole  of  this  period  he  was  preacher  as  well  as 
professor.  His  powers  of  instructive  and  stimulat¬ 
ing  popular  address  were  not  suffered  to  lie  fallow. 
He  held  first  an  interim  pastorate,  for  about  a  year, 
in  a  church  in  the  town  of  Pittsburg,  not  far  from 
Allegheny,  and  then,  from  1 866,  the  regular  pastorate 
of  the  North  Church  in  Allegheny  itself,  where  men 
of  mark  in  various  walks  of  life  gathered  every  week 


PASTOR,  PREACHER,  PLURALIST  PROFESSOR.  77 

to  hear  him.  Whatever  may  be  said  in  general 
about  pluralities,  those  best  qualified  to  judge 
declare,  that  in  this  case,  at  least,  the  pulpit  and  the 
chair  so  far  from  hindering  seemed  only  to  inspire 
each  other. 

It  was  while  he  was  in  Allegheny  that,  his  first 
wife  having  died,  he  was  married  on  Dec.  20th, 
1869,  to  Mrs  Margaret  McLaren  Woods,  of  Detroit, 
who  continued  to  be  the  sympathetic  and  amiable 
partner  of  his  life  till  his  death,  and  who,  with  two 
daughters  by  his  first  marriage,  still  survives  him. 


XIV. 


A  TRUE  APOSTOLIC  SUCCESSION. 

“  God  gives  such  men.  A  time  like  this  demands 
Strong  minds,  great  hearts,  true  faith,  and  ready  hands  ; 

Men  whom  the  lust  of  office  does  not  kill ; 

Men  whom  the  spoils  of  office  cannot  buy  ; 

Men  who  possess  opinions,  and  a  will ; 

Men  who  have  honour — men  who  will  not  lie.” — Anon. 

“  Instead  of  thy  fathers  shall  be  thy  children.” — Psalm  xlv.  i6. 

IN  1877,*  what  Hodge  regarded  as  the  crowning 
honour  of  his  life,  and  what  was  certainly  a  high 
mark  of  his  Church’s  confidence  in  him,  was  con¬ 
ferred,  in  the  call  which  transferred  him  from  Alle¬ 
gheny  to  be  the  associate  of  Dr  Charles  Hodge  in  the 
Chair  of  Didactic  and  Polemic  Theology  in  Princeton. 

This  step  had  been  contemplated  by  the  Board  of 
Directors  four  years  previously — with  the  intention 
that  Dr  A.  A.  Hodge  should  take  the  branch  of  His¬ 
toric  Theology,  and,  while  assisting  his  father  so  long 
as  the  latter  lived, should  be  regarded  as  his  appointed 
successor.  At  that  time,  however.  Dr  Charles  Hodge 
threw  cold  water  on  the  scheme.  We  find  him  writ¬ 
ing — “  The  fidelity  of  the  Seminary  to  our  standards 
is  the  great  object  which,  I  doubt  not,  the  Directors 
feel  conscience-bound  to  secure.  If  that  end  can  be 


*  “Memorial  Discourse,”  p.  17. 


A  TRUE  APOSTOLIC  SUCCESSION. 


79 


obtained  as  well  without  Alexander  as  with  him^  I 
have  always  thought  it  would  be  better  to  let  him 
remain  where  he  is.  According  to  all  accounts,  he 
is  doing  good  there.  We  do  not  know  that  he  would 
be  equally  successful  in  Princeton.  I  see  no  harm  in 
allowing  things  to  remain  as  they  are.  At  my  age, 
life  or  fitness  for  service  hangs  by  a  thread.  Provi¬ 
dence  may  soon  make  the  path  of  duty  plain.” 

The  proposal  was  thereupon,  for  the  time,  allowed 
to  drop  ;  but,  in  the  spring  of  1877,  the  question  of 
a  successor  was  again  started  by  Dr  Charles  Hodge 
himself,  on  whom  the  infirmities  of  age  had  by  that 
time  begun  to  press  more  heavily.  He  spontaneously 
offered  to  the  Directors  either  his  total  resignation, 
if  that  were  deemed  best  in  the  interests  of  the  Sem¬ 
inary,  or  his  partial  resignation,  with  the  prospect  of 
assistance  in  one  or  other  of  the  departments  of 
teaching  whose  responsibility  had  so  long  devolved 
on  him.  The  latter  alternative  was,  of  course,  most 
heartily  adopted  by  the  Board  ;  and  his  son  was 
elected  Associate  Professor  of  Didactic  Theology,  it 
being  understood  that  he  should  come  to  the  relief 
of  his  father  otherwise,  whenever  and  wherever  that 
might  be  found  desirable. 

The  view  taken  by  “  the  old  Doctor  ”  beforehand 
of  his  son’s  possible  appointment  appears  in  the 
following  propositions  embodied  in  a  letter  which  he 
wrote  to  him  on  February  i6th,  1877, — “My  dear 
Alexander  .... 

“  I.  Our  Board  is  bound  to  take  that  course  which 


8o 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


it  thinks  will  best  promote  the  interests  of  this  Sem¬ 
inary,  and  the  general  interest  of  this  Church. 

“  2.  If  our  Directors  think  there  is  any  other  man 
available  as  well  qualified  to  fill  the  position  as  you, 
they  ought  to  leave  you  where  you  are. 

“  3.  But  if  they  are  satisfied  that  you  are  the  best 
man  to  keep  up  the  character  of  this  institution  for 
fidelity  to  our  doctrinal  standards,  I,  if  a  Director, 
although  your  father,  would  vote  for  your  election. 

“  4.  I  would  do  this,  because  I  think  that  this  Sem¬ 
inary,  not  because  of  any  superiority  of  its  Faculty, 
but  simply  because  of  providential  circumstances,  is 
for  the  present,  at  least,  of  special  importance.  It 
therefore  should  be  specially  considered. 

^‘5.  All  such  considerations  as  delicacy,  your  per¬ 
sonal  wishes,  cheapness  of  living  here  or  there,  are 
not  of  any  serious  weight. 

“6.  The  question  whether  you  are  the  best  available 
man  to  fill  the  place  here  is  for  our  Directors  to 
decide.  Their  decision,  however,  is  subject  to  a 
veto  from  your  own  ‘inner  consciousness,’  if  your 
conscience  constrains  you  to  exercise  it.  ‘  Commit 
your  way  unto  the  Lord,  and  He  will  direct  your 
steps.’ —  Your  Father T  * 

But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  however  judicial 
he  might  strive  to  be.  Dr  Charles  Hodge  must  have 
felt  it  no  ordinary  gratification  to  see  his  eldest  son 
installed  as  his  colleague  and  successor  in  a  chair 
which  had  been  occupied  only  by  Dr  Archibald 
*  “Life  of  Charles  Hodge,  D.D.,  LL.D.,”  p.  573. 


A  TRUE  APOSTOLIC  SUCCESSION. 


8l 


Alexander  and  himself,  and  that  for  a  period  (from 
August  12,  1812,  to  November  18,  1877)  of  more 
than  sixty-five  years. 

The  writer  was  present  at  Dr  A.  A.  Hodge’s  in¬ 
duction  at  Princeton,  on  the  8th  November  1877, 
and  had  the  inestimable  privilege  of  studying  under 
both  the  Hodges  during  the  one  session  in  which 
Providence  was  to  permit  their  joint  services  to  the 
Church.  It  was,  as  we  conceive,  a  thankful  day  for 
the  father  to  have  associated  with  him  such  a  son. 
It  was  a  humble  rather  than  a  proud  day  for  the  son 
to  be  called  to  succeed  to  such  a  father. 

Dr  W.  M.  Paxton,  then  of  New  York,  as  represent¬ 
ing  the  Directors,  spoke  in  his  charge  to  the  new 
Professor  with  much  eloquence  and  effect ;  although, 
with  comely  diffidence,  he  compared  himself,  in  his 
opening  sentences,  to  ^‘a  corporal  commanded 
to  teach  a  general  how  to  marshal  an  army.” 
He  pointed  out  various  differences  between  the 
age  in  which  the  newly-inducted  teacher’s  lot 
was  cast,  and  that  of  his  two  distinguished 
predecessors,  and  indicated  how  the  special  neces¬ 
sities  and  dangers  of  the  time  might  best  be  met. 
He  finely  described  a  theological  seminary  as  at  once 
a  school  of  learning  and  a  cradle  of  piety,  and  urged 
that  the  aim  of  each  professor  should  be  to  produce 
a  vitalising  impression  on  the  students — giving  to 
them  theology,  exposition,  demonstration,  ortho¬ 
doxy,  learning,  but  giving  all  this  to  them  warm. 
And  in  conclusion,  he  reminded  the  entrant  Pro- 


82 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


fessor  of  the  historic  position  in  which  he  stood  : 

“  The  name  of  this  Seminary  is  known  in  all  the 
world.  Its  chief  distinction  is  its  Biblical  teaching. 
The  ground  of  its  faith  is  the  Bible.  Its  only 
question  is — ‘  What  has  God  said  ^  ’  Its  only  proof 
is  God’s  Word.  Its  professors  have  never  reached 
the  point  of  thinking  that  they  knew  more  than  the 
Bible.  This  Seminary  has  alway  taught  that  there 
are  but  two  questions  to  be  considered — (i)  Is  this 
the  Word  of  God }  and  (2),  What  does  it  mean  ? 
This  ascertained,  there  is  nothing  left  but  to  believe 
and  adore.  The  preaching  which  has  always  been 
taught  in  this  Seminary,  and  illustrated  in  the  pulpits 
of  its  graduates,  has  been  simple  Biblical-preaching ; 
not  that  kind  of  Biblical  preaching  which  strings 
texts  together  and  repeats  them  like  a  Romish  saint 
his  beads,  in  an  endless  rote  and  in  a  sacred  mono¬ 
tone  which  charms  to  sleep,  but  that  intelligent 
Biblical  preaching  which  makes  the  text  emit 
thought  as  the  sun  emits  light,  which  couples  God’s 
Word  and  man’s  doctrine  like  voice  and  echo,  and 
which  puts  such  life  and  interest  into  discussion  as 
to  make  the  Word  a  living  oracle.”  * 

Dr  A.  A.  Hodge’s  Inaugural  Address  was  directed 
to  showing  that  dogmatic  Christianity  is  the  essen¬ 
tial  ground  of  practical  theology.  •  This  he  demon¬ 
strated  along  various  lines  of  proof,  all  running  up  to 
the  same  conclusion.  One  thing  he  conclusively 
proved  in  addition  to  his  main  point,  viz.  this,  that 
*  “  Princeton  Inaugural  Addresses”  (Sherman  &  Co.,  Philadelphia). 


A  TRUE  APOSTOLIC  SUCCESSION. 


83 


Princeton  had  that  day  got  indeed  a  vitalising 
teacher,  a  worthy  successor  of  those  who  had  gone 
before  him — not  merely  a  master  of  sound,  compact, 
theological  reasoning,  but  a  Rabbi  both  disposed 
and  in  every  way  qualified  to  perpetuate  the  best 
traditions  of  the  Princeton  school. 

“  We  claim,”  said  he,  “  to  be  sincere  advocates  of 
free  investigation,  in  the  true  sense  of  that  word,  in 
every  direction  open  to  man.  The  believer  in  the 
supernatural  revelation  contained  in  God’s  Word  is 
placed  on  a  higher  and  more  central  point  of  vision 
than  that  of  the  mere  naturalist,  and  he  is  thus 
rendered  free  of  the  whole  sphere  of  truth.  The  true 
relations  of  the  successive  realms  of  the  universe  of 
being  and  knowledge  can  be  read  by  one  looking 
upon  them  from  within  outward,  and  not  from 
without  inward  ;  from  above  downward,  and  in  the 
direction  in  which  the  supreme  light  of  revelation 
radiates,  and  not  from  below  upward  upon  the  side 
on  which  the  shadows  fall. 

“  But  it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  true  intellectual 
progress  consists  in  a  mere  change  of  opinions,  or 
that  it  is  consistent  with  the  destruction  of  the 
foundations  which  have  been  laid  in  the  verified 
knowledge  of  the  past.  Truth  once  adequately 
established  must  be  held  fast  for  ever,  while  we  stand 
prepared  to  add  to  it  all  new  truth  substantiated  by 
equal  evidence.  And  it  is  a  law  which  all  educated 
men  should  be  ready  to  acknowledge  as  axiomatic, 
that  truth  in  any  department,  once  established,  must 


84 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


ever  after  hold  the  place  of  valid  presumptions, 
influencing  the  course  of  new  investigations  in 
every  department  Ruskin  well  testifles,  ‘  It  is  the 
law  of  progressive  human  life  that  we  shall  not  build 
in  the  air,  but  in  the  already  high-storied  temple  of 
the  thoughts  of  our  ancestors.’  ...” 

Regarding  the  Church’s  attitude  to  science,  he 
continued — “We  should  unquestionably  open  our 
doors  wide,  with  a  joy  equal  to  her  own,  for  all  the 
facts  which  science  gathers  in  her  harvest  time.  But 
is  it  not  absurd  to  ask  the  believers  in  the  great 
Church  Creeds  of  Christendom  to  abandon,  to 
modify,  or  to  mask  that  ancient  and  coherent  mass 
of  knowledge  which  roots  itself  in  the  profoundest 
depths  of  human  nature  and  in  all  human  history, 
which  has  verifled  itself  to  reason  and  every  phase 
of  experience  for  two  thousand  years,  which  has 
moulded  the  noblest  characters,  inspired  the  most 
exalted  lives,  and  inaugurated  the  very  conditions 
which  made  modern  science  and  civilisation  possible 
— to  modify  or  abandon  all  this  in  deference  to  the 
variant  and  transient  speculations  which  each  in  his 
little  day  claims  to  speak  in  the  venerable  name  of 
science .?  .  .  .  When  we  recall  the  obvious  distinc¬ 
tion  between  facts  and  theories,  between  established 
knowledge  and  provisional  hypothesis,  we  are  readily 
reassured  by  the  recollection  it  suggests,  that  the 
historic  track  of  human  thought  is  strewn  with  the 
wreck  of  systems,  of  cosmogonies,  and  anthro¬ 
pologies,  as  certainly  believed,  and  as  influential  in 


A  TRUE  APOSTOLIC  SUCCESSION.  85 

their  day,  as  any  of  the  anti-theological  systems  of 
the  present.” 

The  genuine  personal  diffidence  with  which  the 
new  Professor  closed  his  address  was  all  the  more 
striking,  because  of  the  firmness  and  force  as  well 
as  keen  ability  he  had  just  displayed  in  handling 
principles  and  enunciating  truth  : — “  Fathers  and 
brethren  of  the  Board  of  Directors,  your  represen¬ 
tative  in  his  charge  has  reminded  me  that  the  chair 
to  which  I  am  called  is  historical,  having  for  sixty- 
five  years  from  the  beginning  been  occupied  only  by 
Archibald  Alexander  and  Charles  Hodge.  Alas, 
sirs,  when  I  think  of  myself,  I  often  cry — Woe  is 
me,  that  such  an  one  as  I  should  be  called  to  inherit 
the  responsibilities  descending  in  such  a  line  !  And 
when  I  think  of  the  Church,  I  cry  with  a  far  sorer 
wonder — What  times  are  these,  when  such  a  man  as 
I  should  be  made  to  stand  in  such  a  place  ?  But 
God  has  done  it.  He  has  chosen  a  vessel,  earthen 
indeed,  that  the  excellency  of  the  power  may  be 
the  more  conspicuously  shown  forth  to  be  His 
alone.  Directors,  since  your  responsibilities  in  the 
matter  are  at  least  equal  to  my  own,  I  can  surely 
claim  your  prayers,  that  in  this  service,  to-day  in¬ 
augurated,  God’s  strength  may  be  made  perfect  in 
weakness.”  ^ 

These  were  no  mere  words  of  course,  but  were 
felt  at  the  time  to  be  a  kind  of  wail  of  cordial  self¬ 
depreciation,  the  echo  of  which  sounds  still  in  the 

*  “Princeton  Inaugural  Addresses”  (Sherman  &  Co.,  Philadelphia). 


86 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


ear,  after  the  lapse  of  the  years  since  it  was  uttered. 
But  every  successive  week  confirmed  the  more  the 
wisdom  of  the  appointment  that  day  made.  The 
Junior  Professor  of  Theology  had  very  soon  a  firm 
hold  alike  on  the  affection  and  on  the  admiration  of 
his  students  ;  and  although  none  could  ever  dislodge 
“  the  old  Doctor  ”  from  their  hearts,  it  is  much  to  say 
that,  ere  that  one  year  of  colleagueship  had  run  its 
course,  the  son  was  enthroned  along  with  him  there. 
None  rejoiced  more  than  he  in  his  colleague’s  accep¬ 
tability,  and  in  the  pledge  which  that  opening  session 
gave  of  continued  prosperity  of  the  best  kind  for  the 
Institution  he  so  long  had  served,  and  still  so  deeply 
loved. 


XV. 


THE  PRINCETON  SCHOOL,  AND  A.  A.  HODGE’S 

PLACE  IN  IT. 


“Allusion  has  been  made  to  the  type  of  theology  taught  in  this 
Seminary.  The  principle  upon  which  it  rests  is — the  absolute,  univer¬ 
sal,  and  exclusive  supremacy  of  the  Word  of  God  as  the  rule  of  faith 
and  practice.  ...  A  censorious  critic  said  the  other  day,  derisively  : 

‘  It  is  enough  for  Dr  Hodge  to  believe  a  thing  to  be  true,  that  he 
finds  it  in  the  Bible  !  ’  We  accept  the  token.  Dr  Hodge  has  never 
got  beyond  the  Bible.  It  contains  every  jot  and  tittle  of  his  theology.” 

Semi-centennial  Address. 

“  See,  thou  that  countest  reason  ripe 
In  holding  by  the  law  within. 

Thou  fail  not  in  a  world  of  sin. 

And  even  for  want  of  such  a  type.” 

In  Memoriam. 

Dr  CHARLES  HODGE,  as  has  already  been 
recorded,  died  on  the  19th  of  June  1878. 
His  was  indeed  a  pleasant  lot,  when  old  age  came 
upon  him — “  to  stand  between  two  strong  sons  who 
lightened  his  labours,  and  afterwards  divided  between 
them  the  work  that  he  left  behind.” 

The  department  of  New  Testament  exegesis  was 
now  fully  committed  to  his  younger  son.  Of  Dr 


88 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


C.  W.  Hodge,  though  he  is  less  known  as  yet  on  the 
European  side  of  the  Atlantic  than  he  is  likely  by- 
and-bye  to  be,  it  may  be  truly  said,  that  he  has 
inherited  in  a  marked  degree  his  father’s  gift  of 
prompt  analytical  insight,  with  a  more  practised 
skill  in  dealing  with  the  details  of  exegesis,  and  un¬ 
deniably  more  patience  and  tact  in  handling  ques¬ 
tions  of  textual  criticism.  His  masterly  treatment 
of  the  Gospel  History  during  the  writer’s  session  in 
Princeton  afforded  ample  illustration  of  exegetical 
qualifications,  analytic  and  synthetic,  from  which, 
slow  as  he  is  to  publish,  valuable  results  according  to 
the  safe  anticipation  of  his  pupils  must  one  day  be 
given  to  the  world. 

It  is  with  Dr  A.  A.  Hodge,  however,  the  elder 
brother,  that  we  are  now  more  immediately  con¬ 
cerned  ;  and,  as  regards  his  occupancy  of  the  Chair 
of  Dogmatic  Theology,  it  is  not  saying  little,  but  it 
is  in  the  fullest  sense  true,  that  “  he  filled  his  father’s 
place.”  From  what  I  saw  of  them — father  and  son 
— during  the  one  session  in  which  they  taught  side 
by  side,  I  would  without  hesitation  say,  that  Dr  A. 
A.  Hodge  was  the  more  impressive  teacher.  But 
comparison  at  that  stage  were  palpably  unfair  to  the 
beloved  veteran — the  Nestor  of  Princeton  and  of  the 
Church. 

The  two  were  alike,  and  yet  different.  Alike  in 
their  strength  of  conviction  ;  alike  in  their  loyalty  to 
the  Word  of  God ;  alike  in  the  vitality  of  thinking, 
which  made  them  anything  rather  than  shallow 


THE  PRINCETON  SCHOOL. 


89 


enunciators  of  well-worn  formulae ;  alike,  moreover, 
in  the  sobriety  of  thinking  which  was  careful  to  hold 
the  speculative  faculty  controlled  by  reason,  and  to 
rein  the  imagination  in  by  common-sense — they  had 
each,  at  the  same  time,  his  own  way  of  viewing 
truth,  and  his  own  way  of  presenting  it.  With  a  regard 
for  his  father,  which  very  literally  was  a  part  of  his 
piety,  the  younger  Hodge,  in  holding  by  the  same 
theology,  had  independence  enough  to  think  out  for 
himself  every  topic  that  came  up  for  treatment,  and 
to  state  to  others  his  views  upon  it  with  unmistak¬ 
able  freshness  and  individuality  of  expression,  as 
well  as  with  the  force  of  sincere  personal  adhesion. 
What  Dr  Hetherington  said  of  Dr  Charles  Hodge 
was  as  manifestly  true  of  his  son,  that  his  orthodoxy 
was  “  not  merely  a  passive  impression,  but  the  attain¬ 
ment  of  a  mind  vigorously  exercised  in  the  search  of 
truth.” 


“  He  fought  his  doubts  and  gathered  strength, 

He  would  not  make  his  judgment  blind, 

He  faced  the  spectres  of  the  mind 
And  laid  them  :  thus  he  came  at  length 
To  find  a  stronger  faith  his  own.” 

Speaking  of  the  eight  years  of  Dr  A.  A.  Hodge’s 
Princeton  professoriate  as  a  whole — his  last  eight 
years  of  life — they  were  years  of  ripened  power  and 
ever  widening  influence.  They  gave  ample  proof  of 
his  fitness,  in  every  sense,  to  be  the  hereditary  exponent 
of  the  Princeton  School,  to  which  he  was  attached  not 
only  by  birth  and  tradition  but  by  strong  and  staunchly 


90 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


vindicated  individual  conviction.  That  school  is  very 
aptly  characterised  by  Dr  James  Macgregor,  then 
Professor  in  the  New  College,  Edinburgh,  in  The 
British  and  Foreign  Evaiigelical  Review,  when  he 
pronounces  it  markedly  Biblical  in  its  thinking,  and 
magyianimoiis  in  its  contending.  Speaking,  under 
this  last  head,  of  the  surprising  revelations  of  charac¬ 
ter  that  controversy  brings,  he  says — “  Some  men, 
heretofore  supposed  to  be  simply  saints,  will  betray 
a  frailness  in  the  fibre  of  their  manhood.  Other 
men  will  evince  a  firm  fibre  of  manhood,  either  by 
sweet  and  uncomplaining  acceptance  of  defeat,  or  by 
magnanimous  forbearance  and  kindness  toward  those 
over  whom  they  have  got  the  upper  hand.  This 
greatness  of  nature  has  been  exhibited  in  remark¬ 
able  measure,  from  first  to  last,  by  the  Princeton 
School.  They  have,  in  their  controversies,  been 
earnest,  eloquent,  warm,  even  passionate  ;  but,  so 
far  as  we  know,  they  have  invariably  spoken  as  true 
Christian  gentlemen,  who  in  relation  to  adversaries 
make  due  allowance  for  the  fact  that — speaking  more 
Americano — ‘there’s  a  good  deal  of  human  nature 
in  man.’  ”  ^  The  same  critic,  writing  at  a  time  when 
Dr  Charles  Hodge  himself  still  “  held  the  field,” 
pronounces  Dr  Alexander  “  the  Socrates  of  the 
Princeton  School,”  and  says  that  “  Hodge  has  proved 
to  be  its  Plato  and  Aristotle.”  We  venture  to  sub¬ 
mit,  however,  that  if  these  latter  sentences  had  been 

*  British  and  Foreign  Evangelical  Review  for  July  1874. 


THE  PRINCETON  SCHOOL. 


91 


penned  in  view  of  the  leading  characteristics  of  the 
later  professorial  career  of  Dr  A.  A.  Hodge,  the 
place  of  the  Stagirite  would,  for  other  than  mere 
chronological  reasons,  have  been  accorded  rather  to 
him  in  the  Princeton  triumvirate. 


XVI. 


VARIED  GLIMPSES  OF  THE  YOUNGER  HODGE. 


“  Tongues  of  the  dead,  not  lost, 
But  speaking  from  death’s  frost. 
Like  fiery  tongues  of  Pentecost.” 


Longfellow. 


HE  younger  Hodge,  like  his  two  eminent  prede- 


dh  cessors,  sought  to  serve  his  own  generation  by 
the  will  of  God.  He  was  quite  alive  to  all  the  lead¬ 
ing  movements  of  the  time  in  the  world  of  thought. 
If  able  conscientiously  to  concur,  he  gave  his  con¬ 


currence  with  all  his  heart.  If  he  found  it  needful 


to  oppose,  his  opposition  was  uncompromisingly 
frank.  He  was  as  heedless  as  those  who  had  gone 
before  him  of  the  taunts  of  the  ilhmiinati,  who 
affected  to  regard  Princeton  Seminary  as  “very  um¬ 
brageous  and  impenetrable  to  any  new  ray  of  light.” 
He  kept  true  to  the  last  to  the  aim  set  forth  in  the 
preface  to  his  work  on  the  Atonement — “  I  would 
pray  and  labour  that  in  gaining  breadth  we  may  not 
lose  height,  and  in  gaining  peace  and  love  we  may 
not  lose  purity  and  truth.” 

It  was  no  part  of  his  method,  and  was  indeed  alien 


VARIED  GLIMPSES  OF  THE  YOUNGER  HODGE.  93 

to  his  nature,  to  import  rancour  into  the  discussion 
of  theological  differences.  He  loved  to  meet  an 
open  foe  right  openly,  and  knew  how  to  wield  upon 
him  the  weapons  alike  of  hard  logic  and  of  effective 
plaisanterie. 

One  thing,  however,  never  failed  to  rouse  all  the 
manhood  in  him  to  a  white  heat  of  moral  indignation, 
which  used  great  plainness  of  speech  in  exposing 
what  he  regarded  as  a  cruel  wrong — and  that  was, 
what  he  deemed  to  be  the  wounding  of  Christianity 
in  the  house  of  its  friends.  He  loved  Calvinism 
much,  and  could  give  a  good  account  of  any  anta¬ 
gonist  who  might  impugn  even  the  subordinate 
tenets  of  that  system  ;  but  he  loved  Christianity 
more  than  any  of  its  bulwarks,  and  when  he  saw  it 
subjected  at  the  centre  to  assault,  and  especially  to 
a  covert  assault,  his  whole  soul  was  stirred  to  its 
defence. 

A  notable  instance  of  this  was  given  in  his  dissec¬ 
tion  of  “  Dean  Stanley’s  Latest  Views,”  in  an  article 
published  in  the  Catholic  Presbyterian  of  March  1882. 
None  could  appreciate  better  than  he  the  attractive 
personal  qualities  of  the  accomplished  and  amiable 
Dean ;  yet  he  regarded  the  views  enunciated  in  his 
‘‘Christian  Institutions”  (1881)  as  so  subversive  of 
all  that  is  vital  in  our  Christian  religion,  that  he  felt 
constrained  to  give  utterance,  with  full  reasons 
annexed,  to  the  distinct  judgment,  that,  in  this  new 
volume  from  Westminster,  “  all  the  characteristic 
and  distinguishing  elements  of  the  religion  of  Jesus 


94 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


Christ  are  quietly  eliminated,  and  that  the  residuum 
barely  comes  up,  either  in  content  or  in  spirit,  to  the 
baldest  historical  Socinianism.” 

We  cannot  refer  in  detail  to  the  trenchant  expos¬ 
ure  of  the  bristling  heresies  of  the  Dean’s  remarkable 
treatise,  with  which  the  sorrowful  yet  emphatic  con¬ 
clusion  is  supported,  that  “  all  this  is  something 
essentially  different  from  Christianity.”  What  we 
are  at  present  illustrating  is  Dr  Hodge’s  unflinching 
courage  in  the  utterance  of  his  convictions,  and  that 
in  cases  where  others,  in  a  spirit  of  laissez  faire^ 
might  have  been  tempted  to  pass  by  with  a  shrug 
what  they  too,  as  well  as  he,  could  not  but  regard  as 
pernicious  error.  And  it  needed  courage,  in  a  theo¬ 
logian  of  reputation,  who  was  at  the  same  time  one 
of  the  most  tender  and  generous-hearted  of  men,  to 
utter,  in  times  like  these,  a  note  like  this,  amid  the 
chorus  of  adulation  accorded  to  Arthur  Penrhyn 
Stanley — “  In  the  exercise  of  that  power  which  his 
practised  talents,  his  acquisitions,  and  his  unparal¬ 
leled  advantages  of  position  gave  him,  ex  cathedra  of 
the  central  Church  of  all  the  Protestant  world,  he 
finished  his  life  by  deliberately  substituting  the 
essence  of  natural  deism  into  the  place,  and  disguis¬ 
ing  it  under  the  sacred  name  and  symbols,  of  the 
historical  religion  of  Jesus  Christ.  Claiming  that  the 
essence  of  Christianity  is  morality,  he  did  this 
immoral  thing.”  * 

Lest  it  be  supposed  by  any  that  we  have  here  the 

*  The  Catholic  Presbyterian  for  March  1882  (Nisbet  &  Co.,  London). 


VARIED  GLIMPSES  OF  THE  YOUNGER  HODGE.  95 

mere  vituperation  of  a  narrow  bigotry,  it  should  be 
added  that  a  remarkable  confirmation  of  the  justness 
of  Dr  Hodge’s  verdict  was  given,  as  he  himself 
shows,  from  a  very  different  quarter — in  the  pages  of 
the  Westminster  Review.  But  apart  from  this,  the 
spirit  of  candour  as  well  as  fervour  in  which  the 
article  was  penned  will  sufifciently  appear  from  the 
quotation  of  the  following  paragraph:  “We  also 
believe  in  development.  All  things  out  of  God 
grow.  Revelation  itself  was  brought  forth  gradually 
through  a  historic  process.  And  by  another  process, 
no  less  historical,  since  the  close  of  revelation,  its 
contents  have  been  gradually  more  and  more 
perfectly  apprehended  in  the  thought  and  life  of  the 
Church.  Theology,  or  the  human  science  of  the 
contents  of  revelation,  has  been  gradually  perfected 
through  the  last  two  thousand  years,  and  will  doubt¬ 
less  continue  to  advance  until  the  second  coming  of 
the  Lord.  .  .  .  But,  observe — (i)  Our  contention 
with  the  last  book  of  Dean  Stanley  does  not  relate 
to  theology,  but  simply  to  the  essence  of  the 
Christian  religion.  (2)  The  Christian  religion  is 
essentially,  not  a  philosophy,  nor  a  scientific  theo¬ 
logy,  but  a  practical  method  of  saving  men,  provided 
and  executed  by  God,  and  revealed  to  man  for  his 
intelligent  acceptance  and  use :  it  must  therefore  be 
a  single,  simple,  practical  method,  identical  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  the  world,  in  spite  of  all 
accidental  complications.  (3)  All  true  development, 
while  it  unfolds  and  perfects,  also  preserves  the 


g6 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


essential  identity  of  the  things  developed,  from  the 
ovum  to  the  accomplished  end.  Substitution  is  not 
development,  and  to  put  one  thing  for  another  is  the 
trick  of  the  magician,  not  the  experimentum  crucis  of 
the  philosopher.”  The  impersonal  nature  of  the  dis¬ 
cussion,  though  conducted  with  such  hre,  abundantly 
appears  also,  in  his  references  to  the  Dean  himself : 
‘‘  He  personally  realised  in  an  eminent  degree  his 
friend  Matthew  Arnold’s  phrase  of  ‘sweetness  and 
light’  His  was  a  fine  nature,  refined  by  exquisite 
culture — intellectual,  learned,  full  of  grace  and  power, 
in  virtue  of  that  tact  which  is  the  talent  for  using 
all  the  talents  most  effectively.  He  radiated  a  fine 
human  sympathy,  and  hence  attracted  and  bound  all 
kinds  of  human  brethren  to  himself”*  Thus  could 
Hodge  the  man  appreciate  Stanley  the  man,  while 
yet  he  regarded  and  treated  the  statements  of  the 
Dean  as  the  meet  object  of  the  odium  theologicum 
totius  cordis. 

But,  to  return  from  this  “  aside,”  Dr  A.  A.  Hodge, 
as  professor  in  Princeton  Seminary,  not  only  sus¬ 
tained  from  a  theological  point  of  view  the  old 
renown  of  the  chair  he  filled,  but,  as  has  already 
been  hinted,  conquered  for  himself  a  place  in  the 
affection  and  esteem  of  his  students  and  brother 
professors  akin  to  that  which  his  father  had  held 
before  him.  We  find  one  of  these  latter  testifying, 
that  within  the  faculty  he  was  everything  that  col¬ 
leagues  could  desire  :  “  not  opinionative,  nor  arrogant, 
*  The  Catholic  Presbyteria7i  for  March  1882  (Nisbet  &  Co.,  London). 


VARIED  GLIMPSES  OF  TPIE  YOUNGER  PIODGE.  97 

nor  reticent,  nor  indifferent — he  pressed  his  views 
with  manly  confidence  in  their  correctness,  but  could 
yield  gracefully  to  an  adverse  decision.”  *  One  of  his 
students,  again,  may  be  taken  as  speaking  for  all  the 
rest  when  he  says :  “His  patience  and  intellectual 
charity  were  large,  and  he  allowed  the  greatest  free¬ 
dom  of  debate  to  his  scholars.  In  these  contests  he 
was  always  chivalrous,  and  dismounted  to  meet  his 
adversary  on  equal  terms.  His  many  peculiarities 
of  speech  and  manner  never  impaired  his  courtesy 

o 

as  a  gentleman,  or  his  dignity  as  a  professor.  He 
had  a  powerful  brain,  a  large  heart,  and  the  simple 
faith  of  a  little  child.”  ^  Of  his  social  qualities.  Pro¬ 
fessor  Warfield,  the  distinguished  alumnus  of  Prince¬ 
ton  who  has  since  been  appointed  his  successor  in 
the  Princeton  chair,  has  well  said  :  “  Nothing  can 
give  the  faintest  conception  of  the  beauty  of  his 
Christian  character,  or  of  the  astounding  greatness  of 
his  ordinary  conversation.  His  intimate  acquaint¬ 
ances  feel  that  a  great  light  has  gone  out  from  their 
lives  in  his  departure.  No  one  can  enter  in  where 
he  entered  into  our  hearts,  and  no  one  can  rule  as  he 
ruled  by  our  firesides,  and  at  our  tables.  But  unless 
you  have  lived  under  the  same  roof  with  him,  I 
should  despair  of  conveying  to  you  any  adequate 
idea  of  what  he  was.” 

It  may  be  added  that  Hodge’s  life,  like  his  the- 
ology,  centred  in  Christ.  With  all  his  pleasantry  in 
private  —  exuberant  enough  sometimes  —  his  deep 

*  “  Memorial  Discourse,”  pp.  23  and  48. 

G 


98 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


personal  piety  was  never  brought  into  question.  We 
have  'in  view,  while  we  write,  a  visit  he  paid  to  our 
Scottish  home  in  the  summer  of  1884,  which  is  one 
of  the  oases  of  memory  ever  fragrant,  ever  green. 
His  prayers  at  the  family  altar,  and  indeed  every¬ 
where,  were  the  outpouring  of  a  profoundly  religious 
spirit  :  full  of  an  adoration  without  awe,  and  of  a 
confidence  without  unseemly  familiarity,  they  were 
suffused  with  the  glow  of  a  love  that  embraced 
together  God  and  the  world  for  which  Christ  died. 


I 


XVIL 


RIPENED  IN  USEFULNESS  AND  RIPE  FOR  GLORY. 


“  And  doubtless  unto  thee  is  given 
A  life  that  bears  immortal  fruit, 
In  such  great  offices  as  suit 


The  full-grown  energies  of  heaven.” 


In  Memoriam, 


HE  influence  of  Dr  A.  A.  Hodge  was  a  steady 


growth,  and  was  never  so  great  as  just  before 
he  died. 

Enough  has  been  said  to  indicate  that  his 
published  writings  are  no  adequate  representa¬ 
tion  of  the  varied  gifts  of  their  author,  or  of  the 
power  wielded  through  his  personality.  Several  of 
his  books  will  live.  The  “  Outlines  of  Theology  ’’ 
will  be  used  long  and  widely  as  a  class-book ;  for  it 
will  be  difficult  to  find  a  work  of  the  same  size 
where  so  much  theology  is  so  clearly  presented,  or  at 
once  so  briefly  and  so  interestingly  discussed.  Some 
of  the  many  notable  contributions  of  his  pen  to 
encyclopaedias  and  theological  reviews  are  of  per¬ 
manent  value.  But  Hodge  was  greater  than  any  of 
his  writings,  and  none  could  come  into  close  contact 
with  him  without  becoming  conscious  of  a  latency  of 
power  in  him  from  which  yet  higher  results,  had  he 


lOO 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


been  longer  spared,  might  have  been  confidently 
expected.  The  great  work  he  did  was  the  work  he 
accomplished  in  human  intellects  and  hearts,  and  is 
to  this  hour  accomplishing  through  these  in  every 
part  of  his  own  great  country  and  in  many  quarters 
of  the  world. 

It  is  admitted  by  his  warmest  admirers,  that 
on  the  public  platform  he  could  sometimes  be 
disappointing  enough.  He  was  susceptible  while 
speaking  to  surrounding  influences,  and  it  was  soon 
apparent  whether  or  not  he  felt  “  at  home.”  If  he 
did  not,  he  was  almost  sure  to  be  disappointing — 
to  none  so  much  as  to  those  who  knew  him  best. 
His  appearance  at  the  Pan-Presbyterian  Council 
in  Belfast  may,  we  rather  think,  be  taken  as  a  case 
in  point.  We  heard  it  described  by  one  critic  as 
rather  “wooden” — an  adjective  which,  however  it 
might  apply  to  that  particular  “  appearance,”  is  one 
of  the  last  adjectives  in  the  dictionary  to  be  ap¬ 
positely  applied  to  the  man. 

He  frequently,  on  the  other  hand,  rose  to  the  heights 
of  genuine  and  spontaneous  eloquence.  As  a  speaker, 
he  had  few  adventitious  charms.  His  presence  was 
not  imposing  ;  his  face, — not  so  handsome  as  his 
father’s  though  quite  as  expressive  in  its  way, — some¬ 
times  in  repose  looked  sombre ;  his  voice  was  lack¬ 
ing  both  in  tone  and  compass  ;  and  he  had  none  of 
the  orator’s  arts.  Yet  his  audience,  as  a  rule,  was 
interested,  and  oftentimes  it  was  enthralled.  One  of 
his  latest  achievements,  which  gave  promise  of  great 


RIPENED  IN  USEFULNESS. 


lOI 


future  service  of  a  similar  kind,  was  the  delivery, 
in  Philadelphia,  of  twelve  lectures  on  the  most 
abstract  theological  subjects,  to  a  miscellaneous 
audience  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  which  remained 
crowded  to  the  end. 

The  unique  power  of  Dr  A,  A.  Hodge  as  a 
preacher,  when  in  one  of  his  best  moods,  is  thus 
graphically  described  by  Professor  Patton  : — 

“  It  was  a  union  of  theology,  philosophy,  Christian 
experience,  knowledge  of  human  nature,  quaint 
humour,  elaborate  description,  a  metaphor  dropped 
as  a  diamond  unobserved  might  fall  out  of  a  casket, 
facile  utterance,  a  disdain  of  elocution,  few  gestures, 
the  face  lighted  up,  the  eye  opened  wide,  as  though 
the  speaker  saw  a  vision  of  glory,  the  voice  trem¬ 
bling  when  the  Saviour’s  name  is  mentioned,  the 
sensitive  frame  responding  to  the  pressure  of  emo¬ 
tion,  and  emotion  finding  vent  at  last  in  involuntary 
tears.” 

This  is  no  fancy  sketch.  It  was  fully  realised  in 
a  sermon  preached  by  Dr  Hodge  in  my  pulpit. 
Free  St  Matthew’s  Church,^'  Glasgow,  in  June  1884, 
on  the  occasion  of  his  visit  to  the  said  Presbyterian 
Council  in  Belfast.  None  who  were  present  on  that  day 
will  readily  forget  it.  The  theme  was,  “  My  Father’s 
house  of  many  mansions,”  and  in  its  treatment  the 
theology  of  the  intellect  was  permeated  with  the 
chastened  tenderness  of  deep  and  catching  Christian 

*  The  Congregation  now  ministered  to  by  the  Rev.  James  Stalker, 

M.A. 


ro2 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


emotion ;  so  that,  while  the  hearer’s  mind  was  en¬ 
larged  with  wonderful  thoughts  of  Christ  and  heaven, 
his  heart  was  yet  more  touched,  and  not  a  few  of  the 
listeners  were  seen  to  join  their  tears  with  the 
preacher’s,  who  never  in  a  church  were  seen  to  weep 
before. 

The  variety  of  heaven  was  one  of  Dr  Hodge’s 
favourite  topics  ;  and  he  has  now  gone  to  the  place 
— a  bright  and  influential  place  it  will  be — which 
Christ  has  prepared  for  him.  On  the  last  Sabbath 
of  his  mortal  life  he  was  discoursing  with  even  more 
than  usual  fervour,  in  Princeton  College  Chapel ;  he 
caught  a  chill,  which  resulted  .in  uraemia,  and  before 
the  week  was  over,  on  nth  November  1886,  he  had 
gone  to  be  for  ever  with  the  Lord.  “  We  shall  not 
meet  here  any  more,”  were  his  last  words  in  his 
closing  lecture  in  Philadelphia,  “  let  us  pledge  one 
another  to  reassemble  in  heaven.  We  part  as  pil¬ 
grims  part  upon  the  road.  Let  us  take  our  way 
heavenward  ;  for,  if  we  do,  we  shall  soon,  some  of  us 
very  soon,  be  at  home  with  the  Lord.” 

To  Dr  Wm.  M.  Paxton,  who  had  heralded  Dr  A. 
A.  Hodge’s  succession  to  his  father  in  the  theologi¬ 
cal  chair,  the  duty  was  suitably  assigned  of  signalis¬ 
ing  with  sorrow  his  early  succession  to  the  grave. 
This  affecting  task  he  lovingly  discharged  in  his 
funeral  address  on  the  15th  November,  as  they 
committed  the  mortal  remains  of  Archibald  Alex¬ 
ander  Hodge  to  the  sweet  little  cemetery  in  Princeton, 
which  also  keeps,  till  the  Resurrection  Day,  the 


RIPENED  IN  USEFULNESS. 


103 


hallowed  dust  of  Witherspoon,  and  Edwards,  and 
the  two  Alexanders,  and  Charles  Hodge,  his  father. 

Having  briefly  recorded  what  Dr  Hodge  had 
accomplished,  he  touched  on  what  he  was  as  well  ; 
and  the  closing  words  of  Dr  Paxton  were  such  as  to 
find  a  response  in  every  breast. 

He  spoke  of  the  transparent  honesty  of  the  de¬ 
parted  ;  and  everybody  knew  that  “  he  was  trans¬ 
parent  as  a  mountain  lake.  He  had  no  policy,  no 
concealments,  no  stratagem.  He  never  deceived. 
You  could  look  into  the  workings  of  his  mind  and 
heart  as  into  a  mirror.” 

He  spoke  of  his  sympathy ;  and  all  gave  inward 
assent  when  the  orator  said  :  “  The  great  world  of 
humanity,  with  its  wants  and  woes,  was  the  habitual 
theme  of  his  thought  and  prayer ;  his  heart,  like  his 
intellect,  moved  in  vast  circles,  and  encompassed  the 
world.” 

He  spoke  of  the  simplicity  of  his  faith  ;  and  many 
in  the  audience,  besides  the  speaker,  could  attest 
that,  ‘‘  while  God  had  created  him  with  a  giant  in¬ 
tellect,  grace  had  made  him  a  child,  in  the  simple, 
sincere,  undoubting  exercises  of  piety.” 

Nor,  in  the  view  of  those  best  acquainted  with  his 
theme  was  the  elegist  a  mere  fond  eulogist  when  he 
summed  up  his  characterization  of  Archibald  Alex¬ 
ander  Hodge  in  the  words  :  “  Christian — Philosopher 
—Theologian — Orator — Poet — Child.” 


XVIIL 


THE  YOUNGER  HODGE  AMONG  HIS  STUDENTS. 


“When  one  would  aim  an  arrow  fair, 

But  send  it  slackly  from  the  string  ; 

And  one  would  pierce  an  outer  ring, 

And  one  an  inner,  here  and  there  ; 

“  And  last  the  master  bowman,  he 

Would  cleave  the  mark.  A  willing  ear 
We  lent  him.  Who  but  hung  to  hear 
The  rapt  oration  flowing  free 

“  From  point  to  point,  with  power  and  grace 
And  music  in  the  bounds  of  law. 

To  those  conclusions  when  we  saw 
The  God  within  him  light  his  face.” 


In  Memoriam. 


HIS  closing  chapter  may  serve  as  a  kind  of 


transition  to  the  second  portion  of  the  volume, 
by  calling  somewhat  closer  attention  to  Dr  A.  A. 
Hodge’s  characteristic  excellences  as  a  teacher. 

Reviewing  our  own  reminiscences  of  him,  we 
certainly  would  say,  that  it  was  in  the  class-room 
that  he  shone,  or  in  a  company  small  enough  and 
congenial  enough  for  him  to  “commit  himself  unto 
them.”  His  extraordinary  analytic  acumen,  wedded 


THE  YOUNGER  HODGE  AND  HIS  STUDENTS.  IO5 

as  it  was  to  a  singular  faculty  for  apt  illustration  ; 
his  contagious  earnestness,  with  its  other  side  of 
playful  humour  and  quaint  hyperbole  ;  his  burning 
sympathy  with  all  that  is  good,  and  burning  indig¬ 
nation  at  everything  false  or  mean ;  his  personal 
modesty,  amounting  even  to  shyness,  with  its  counter¬ 
part  of  fearless  and  candid  courage  in  defence  of  the 
truth — qualities  like  these  made  him  a  model  Pro¬ 
fessor  and  an  invaluable  friend.  To  those  who  knew 
him,  his  personal  character  gave  added  force  to  all 
his  utterances  ;  and  those  who  knew  him  best  could 
best  appreciate  the  utter  candour  of  his  spirit  and 
the  utter  generosity  of  his  heart. 

Professor  Patton  distinguishes  professors  into  three 
classes.^  There  is  first  the  man  of  leisurely  research, 
whose  aim  in  his  lecture  is,  to  give  in  some  sense  a 
completed  contribution  to  his  subject,  and  with 
whom,  as  he  dictates  his  results  to  the  diligent 
note-taking  of  his  students,  the  matter,  apart  from 
the  manner  of  presenting  it,  is  everything.  Then 
there  is  the  instructor  who  relies  much  on  the 
brilliant  mode  of  presentation  he  has  elaborated,  to 
fire  the  minds  of  his  students  with  a  desire  for  further 
investigation  into  the  subject,  some  special  phase 
of  which  has  been  so  suggestively  handled  in  the 
lecture.  Then  there  is  the  teacher,  whose  grand 
object  it  is,  “safely  and  surely  to  transfer  a  certain 
definite  body  of  instruction  from  his  own  mind  to 
the  minds  of  his  scholars,  incorporating  it  into  their 

*  “Memorial  Discourse,”  p.  43. 


io6 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


mental  life  as  something  which  can  never  be  for¬ 
gotten — a  %rri!J.a  sg  as/,  something  that  is  their  own, 
part  of  their  very  self-hood.” 

We  entirely  agree  with  the  verdict  of  his  colleague, 
that  Dr  A.  A.  Hodge  belonged  pre-eminently  to  the 
third  of  these  classes.  Yet,  though  he  did  not  seek 
merely  to  pour  out  the  results  of  his  own  cogitations 
and  investigations  regarding  the  subject  under  dis¬ 
cussion  ;  and  though  his  method  of  presenting  what 
he  had  to  say  in  the  class-room  bore  no  marks 
whatever  of  elaborate  premeditation  as  to  form,  but 
seemed  to  be  of  the  most  impromptu  character,  he 
may  indeed  be  said,  in  taking  front  rank  as  a  pro¬ 
fessor  of  the  third  class,  to  have  combined  in  a  sense 
the  characteristic  excellences  of  the  other  two.  What¬ 
ever  was  the  topic  for  the  day,  he  had  some  distinct 
contribution  of  his  own  to  offer  for  its  elucidation  ; 
and  while  the  fulness  and  readiness,  as  well  as  clear¬ 
ness,  with  which  he  handled  every  theme  could  not 
fail  to  instruct,  the  interest  which  his  enthusiasm 
always  imparted  to  the  discussion  could  as  little 
fail  to  stimulate. 

Like  his  predecessor  he  strongly  believed  in  the 
importance  of  the  living  teacher,  along  with  the  text¬ 
book,  for  the  satisfactory  impartation  of  Didactic 
Theology,  and  in  the  active  drill  of  oral  question  and 
debate,  along  with  some  practice  in  writing  on  theo¬ 
logical  theses.  Having  opened  the  class  with  prayer 
— brief  but  comprehensive,  earnest  and  vital — he  at 
once  called  on  some  student,  in  order,  to  “recite.” 


THE  YOUNGER  HODGE  AND  HIS  STUDENTS.  I07 

This  meant  in  effect,  not  that  he  was  to  parrot  over 
by  rote  what  he  had  acquired  from  the  “  Systematic 
Theology  ”  as  a  text-book  the  night  before,  but  that 
he  was  to  give  evidence  of  an  intelligent  apprehen¬ 
sion  of  what  he  had  learned,  and  to  give,  probably 
enough,  at  the  same  time,  incidental  occasion  to  the 
professor  to  show,  in  the  most  graciously  spontaneous 
way,  that  he  knew  next  to  nothing  yet  as  he  ought 
to  know.  The  Socratic  method  adopted  in  the 
“  recitations  ”  was  attended  with  great  interest  and 
permanent  advantage.  The  young  men  left  the 
class-room  not  only  possessing  the  truth  taught,  but 
with  it  possessing  them.  “  The  students  saw  every 
doctrine,  as  it  presented  itself  to  his  vision.  They 
benefited  by  his  power  of  concise  statement  and  clear 
definition.  He  held  up  the  representative  systems  of 
theology  with  such  sharpness  of  outline  and  such 
accuracy  of  articulation,  that  they  knew  them  as  one 
knows  the  face  of  a  familiar  friend.  They  questioned 
him,  and  he  answered  their  questions.  They  raised 
objections,  and  so  woke  in  him  the  hot  fires  of  his 
polemic.  They  failed  sometimes  to  comprehend  a 
dogma,  and  he  swept  the  universe  for  illustrations, 
and  poured  them  out  so  copiously,  and  with  such 
manifest  spontaneity,  that  they  overwhelmed  him 
with  their  applause.”^' 

Students  are  proverbially  critical  of  their  teachers 
and  their  prelections,  counting  themselves  wiser  than 
all  the  former,  and  dismissing  the  latter  with  the 


*  “Memorial  Discourse,”  p.  47. 


io8 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


faint  praise,  or  sometimes  less,  which  the  immense 
potentiality  of  undeveloped  genius  feels  justified  in 
bestowing  on  the  respectable  performances  of  seniors 
who  have  given  their  actual  best  But  with  respect 
to  such  a  teacher,  the  affectation  of  a  superior 
potentiality  was  too  ridiculous  for  even  the  most 
self-complacent  to  assume,  and  if  the  voice  of  dis¬ 
paragement  ever  reached  a  whisper,  it  was  left 
unheard  atnid  the  chorus  of  praise,  which  young 
enthusiasm,  when  it  is  enlisted,  yields  in  no  reluctant 
or  half-hearted  way. 

And  now,  in  conclusion,  we  cannot  do  better  than 
submit  one  more  quotation  from  the  same  high 
authority  to  whom  appeal  has  been  already  so  often 
made,  as  summing  up  in  few  words  the  special 
qualifications  and  characteristics  of  Professor  A.  A. 
Hodge  as  a  teacher  of  theology.  Professor  Patton 
says:  “Think  then  of  Dr  A.  A.  Hodge  as  having 
an  acute  mind ;  interested  in  theological  specu¬ 
lation  ;  rethinking  independently  the  old  ques¬ 
tions  ;  analytic  in  his  mental  processes ;  full  of 
scholastic  subtleties ;  bold,  confident,  intense  in  his 
convictions ;  filled  with  reverence  for  good  tradi¬ 
tions  ;  holding  the  reformed  faith  as  a  sacred  trust, 
and  also  as  a  personal  possession  ;  pervaded  by  this 
faith,  and  living  on  terms  of  easy  familiarity  with  it ; 
able  to  distinguish  between  essence  and  accident, 
and  knowing  when  harmless  idiosyncrasy  runs  into 
serious  doctrinal  divergence;  strong  in  his  convic¬ 
tions,  but  not  litigious ;  tenacious  of  principle,  but 


THE  YOUNGER  HODGE  AND  HIS  STUDENTS.  IO9 

never  sticking  in  the  bark  ;  a  sturdy,  robust  thinker, 
always  ready  to  defend  the  faith  ;  a  brilliant  thinker, 
so  that,  as  circumstances  required,  he  could  send 
truth  out  in  the  shining  drapery  of  soft  and  beauti¬ 
ful  speech,  or  shoot  it  forth  like  forked  lightning,  hot 
and  scathing,  to  leave  on  the  face  of  error  the  scarred 
record  of  its  presence — think  of  him,  I  say,  as 
exhibiting  this  many-sided  mental  expression,  and 
you  have  my  conception  of  the  type  of  theologians  to 
which  Dr  Hodge  belonged.  Beyond  all  question  he 
takes  his  place  among  the  great  men  of  America,  and 
the  great  theologians  of  the  world.”  * 

This  is  no  stinted  praise.  Yet  such  language  is 
but  sober  truth  to  one  who  has  studied  under  him  of 
whom  it  speaks. 

The  brevia  theologica  which  follow  are  not,  of 
course,  submitted  as  by  any  means  a  full  representa¬ 
tion  of  Dr  A.  A.  Hodge’s  theological  system.  They 
are  nothing  more  than  the  pencil  notes  of  a  single 
student,  in  a  single  session,  and  that  the  first  session 
of  his  Princeton  professorship.  Nor  must  these  notes 
be  expected  to  furnish  a  sufficient  clue  to  the  remark¬ 
able  influence  which  is  justly  ascribed  to  the  younger 
Hodge  as  a  teacher,  in  the  foregoing  pages.  They 
are  simply  a  few  of  the  sparks  struck  out  in  the 
class-room,  in  the  course  of  discussion  on  the  theo¬ 
logical  topic  of  the  day ;  or  some  of  the  fragments 
which  remain  from  what  in  its  fulness  was  often  a 


*  “Memorial  Discourse,”  p.  31. 


I  lo 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 


rich  and  satisfying  feast.  The  annotator  is  glad,  for 
his  own  sake  at  least,  that  he  was  led  to  preserve 
these  reminiscences  of  helpful  hours.  Neither  he  nor 
the  speaker  imagined,  at  the  time,  that  the  sen- 
tenticB  would  be  placed  thus  on  printed  record.  But 
the  end  in  view  will  be  served,  and  what  is  now 
done  justified,  if  as  sparks  they  shed  some  light, 
however  feeble,  on  the  enthusiasm  of  regard  in 
which  a  great  though  unobtrusive  career  that  has 
recently  passed  from  sight  will  long  continue  to  be 
held  by  those  who  came  directly  under  its  magnetic 
influence  ;  or  even  if,  as  fragments,  they  do  nothing 
more  than  enable  others  to  taste  and  appreciate  the 
kind  of  fare  provided  for  the  young  manhood 
gathered  round  his  table,  by  Professor  A.  A.  Hodge 
of  Princeton,  their  “  guide,  philosopher,  and  friend.” 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


I.  Obiter  Dicta  .  .  .  . 

II.  Reason  and  Revelation 

III.  The  Universe  .  .  .  . 

IV.  The  Being  and  Attributes  of  God 

V.  The  Holy  Trinity  .  .  .  . 

VI.  Sovereignty,  Freewill,  and  Salvation  . 

VII.  Providence:  Ordinary  and  Miraculous 

VIII.  Man  as  Man  .  .  *  .  . 

IX.  Man  as  Sinner  .  .  .  . 

X.  God’s  Law  and  Man’s  Duty 

XI.  Death  and  after  Death 


Pack 

II5 

123 

137 

152 

162 

168 

179 

187 

193 

213 

229 


H 


NOTE. 


These  hrevia  are  given  as  far  as  possible  in  Dr  Hodge’s  own  words. 
For  the  headings,  the  Editor  is  wholly  responsible,  and  also  for  the 
order  of  arrangement.  The  latter  might,  in  places,  have  been  made 
more  strictly  consecutive,  but  the  attempt  at  close  articulation  of  mis¬ 
cellanea  like  these  might  be  the  opposite  of  an  advantage  from  the 
reader’s  point  of  view.  All  the  utterances  are  not,  of  course,  of  equal 
value.  A  few  are  inserted  less  for  their  theological  than  for  their 
biographical  significance,  and  are  to  be  read  in  the  light  of  the  pre¬ 
ceding  sketch.  C.  A.  S. 


1. 


OBITER  DICTA. 

A  Theological  Semmary. 

I  REGARD  a  theological  seminary  as  the  organ  of 
communication  between  the  Church  of  the  past, 
and  the  rising  ministry  of  the  present. 

The  Value  of  Definitions. 

The  truth  of  God  is  a  boundless  expanse.  Defini¬ 
tions  are  made  for  man ;  not  man  for  definitions. 
They  are  like  ring-fences  out  on  the  prairies.  They 
are  useful,  and  I  am  fond  of  them.  But  they  have 
to  be  learned  and  unlearned. 

Warnmg  about  Illustrations. 

You  are  not  to  think  that  illustrations  run  like 
lines  parallel  with  their  subject  to  all  eternity;  they 
are  rather  like  circles  which  osculate  at  particular 
points. 

Single  Texts. 

I  do  not  like  to  ground  a  doctrinal  argument  upon 
merely  a  single  text.  Two  posts  afford  you  a  line 
of  perspective,  which  one  point  cannot. 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


1 16 


Ultimate  Truths. 

Ultimate  truths,  which  cannot  be  proved,  are  the 
surest  of  all.  The  cylinder  is  firmer  than  any  of  the 
links  of  the  chain  descending  from  it  into  the  well — 
of  which  each  lower  link  has  its  own  weakness  plus 
the  weakness  of  the  link  above  it. 

Science^  so-called^  often  Metaphysics. 

A  great  deal  of  so-called  science  in  our  day  is 
really  metaphysics,  and  very  poor  metaphysics  too, 
— illogical  and  one-sided  :  vainly  trying  to  explain 
the  spiritual  by  material  causes, — making  joy  in  the 
Holy  Ghost  a  resultant  of  the  disposition  of  the 
molecules. 

Plausible  Intellectual  Generalisations. 

Generalisations  of  the  intellect  may  be  very  mis¬ 
leading,  however  persuasive.  It  is  not  the  under¬ 
standing  but  the  moral  sense  that  determines,  e.g.., 
what  is  right  or  wrong.  An  intellectual  generalisa¬ 
tion  like  “  Ability  limits  obligation  ”  has  a  plausible 
look.  But  if  you  go  about  applying  it  to  moral  dis¬ 
tinctions,  you  will  be  very  like  a  man  trying  to  test  - 
music  by  the  nose.  The  answer  of  your  understand¬ 
ing  may  not  be  worth  sixpence,  where  your  moral 
sense  will  tell  you  right.  Nobody  would  be  so 
absurd  as  to  go  through  life  trying  to  hear  smells 
or  to  smell  sounds.  Yet  this  is  precisely  what  men 


OBITER  DICTA. 


II7 

are  often  trying  to  do,  in  applying  logic  to  casuistical 
questions  of  duty,  for  instance. 

Latin  Terms. 

I  like  you  to  get  a  good  Latin  phrase  now  and 
then.  Wherever  you  meet  a  Latin  term,  do  not  fail 
to  acquire  it,  for  you  may  be  sure  it  is  worth  several 
Yankee  words. 

The  Early  Fathers  not  complimented. 

These  old  patristic  fellows  were,  in  one  aspect  of 
the  case,  the  babies  of  the  Church. 

The  Greek  and  the  Latin  Churches  compared. 

The  Greek  Church  crystallized  much  sooner  than 
the  Latin  ;  and,  though  in  some  respects  more  dead, 
it  is  not  so  corrupt. 

Course  of  Thought  in  Germany. 

Dogmatism,  deism,  pantheism,  materialism — this 
has  been  the  order  in  Germany. 

A  Common  Tendency  in  Heresy. 

There  is  a  tendency  in  all  heresy  to  simplification, 
by  denying  parts  of  the  truth. 

The  Boundaries  of  Truth. 

In  considering  and  defining  a  doctrine,  you  should 
know  what  lies  beyond.  To  bound  Pennsylvania, 


I  1  8  BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 

you  have  to  tell  what  is  on  the  north — New  York ; 
on  the  west — Ohio  ;  on  the  east — this  kingdom  of 
Jersey,  &c.  And  so  with  a  doctrine.  It  is  well 
that  we  should  know  about  the  heresies  beyond 
its  boundaries,  that  we  may,  by  negation,  exclude 
them.  I  shall  sometimes  ask  you  to  come  with  me 
to  the  edge,  and  get  the  alternatives. 

Occident  and  Orie7it. 

Bible  statements  are  not  always  perspicuous  to  a 
Western  mind.  Of  all  men  in  the  world  the  typical 
Yankee*  would  be  the  stupidest  as  to  insight  into 
orientalisms.  With  all  his  highly  developed  nine¬ 
teenth  century  occidental  acuteness,  he  would  be  in 
a  strange  region  there,  and  often  at  a  loss. 

Over  Fervour  in  Debate. 

Men  often,  in  disputation,  overshoot  the  mark. 
A  materialist  denying  the  reliability  of  conscious¬ 
ness  is  like  the  Irishman  sawing  off  the  branch  on 
which  he  sat  astride ;  or  like  a  very  choleric  boy  I 
used  to  know  in  my  youth,  who  when  he  fought 
used  to  kick  with  both  feet  at  one  time.  Result — a 
tumble. 

Testing  a  Theory, 

If  you  burn  the  end  of  an  idealist’s  nose,  you 
disturb  his  dream.  If  you  infringe  a  pantheist’s 

*  A  name  specifically  applied  in  America  to  the  New  Englander, 
and  indicative  of  uncommon  “smartness.” 


OBITER  DICTA. 


II9 

rights,  he  will  somehow  refuse  to  regard  you  as 
“  a  mere  moment  of  infinite  existence  ”  ;  he  will 
recognise  your  personal  responsibility. 


The  Nexus  of  Doctrines. 

The  doctrines  of  the  Bible  are  not  isolated,  but 
interlaced ;  and  the  view  of  one  doctrine  must 
necessarily  affect  the  view  taken  of  another.  A 
difference  on  such  a  fundamental  question  as  the 
divinity  of  Christ  will  produce  an  entirely  different 
system.  This  is  found  so  in  fact. 

Here  are  triads  which,  as  is  natural,  have  gone 
together : — 

Christ  a  man ; 

Human  nature  not  depraved ; 

Salvation  merely  education. 

or — 

Christ  a  divine  person  ; 

Human  nature  depraved  ; 

Salvation  by  the  almighty  power  of  God. 

You  may  begin  your  argument  from  the  correla¬ 
tion  of  doctrine  at  either  end.  Beginning  with  a 
diagnosis  of  the  nature  of  the  disease,  you  may  infer 
the  kind  of  treatment  and  the  sort  of  physician 
necessary.  Or,  if  you  find  a  certain  physician  apply¬ 
ing  a  certain  remedy,  you  may  infer  the  nature  and 
gravity  of  the  disease. 


I  20 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


Sea-sickness  in  Theology. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  sea-sickness  in  theology 
till  you  get  your  sea-legs  on — sky  and  land  and 
water  all  mixed. 

The  Fmal  Conflict  of  Systems. 

The  last  issue  must  be  between  Atheism  in  its 
countless  forms  and  Calvinism.  The  other  systems 
will  be  crushed  as  the  half-rotten  ice  between  two 
great  bergs.  Two  things  you  may  be  quite  sure  of, 
viz. : — I.  That  you  won’t  get  rid  of  your  difficulties 
by  putting  away  Christianity,  because  they  will  come 
up  under  philosophy  itself ;  and  2.  That  you  won’t 
get  rid  of  the  difficulties  of  Calvinism  by  turning 
Arminian  j  therefore  don’t  potter  with  half-measures, 
but  be  on  one  side  or  the  other,  out  and  out. 

All  Objectionahle  Orthodoxy. 

I  am  afraid  of  Calvinism  when  it  is  alone.  A 
mere  Calvinist  who  is  not  a  man  and  a  Christian 
had  better  be  shut  up  in  Bedlam.  But  if  he  is 
human  and  Christian,  then  his  Calvinism  is  a  good 
thing.  In  this  day  we  require  perhaps  to  emphasize 
man’s  free  will  rather  than  God’s  sovereignty.  At 
the  same  time,  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  latter, 
or  allow  our  theological  system  to  centre  wrongly. 

Helio centrical  Theology. 

If  you  study  astronomy  geocentrically,  you  will 
bring  everything  into  confusion ;  if  you  study  it 


OBITER  DICTA. 


I  2  I 


heliocentrically,  then  everything  will  be  right.  Dr 
Krauth  once  said  to  me — “If  you  begin  with  God, 
you  must  be  a  Calvinist ;  if  you  begin  with  man, 
you  must  be  an  Arminian.  We  Lutherans  do  neither  ; 
we  begin  with  the  Bible.’*  It  is,  however,  impossible 
to  keep  clear  of  both  Arminianism  and  Calvinism  ; 
every  theological  idea  is  of  the  one  colour  or  the 
other.  This  I  perceive  in  our  classes  here,  where 
you  talk  about  as  much  Arminianism  as  Calvinism. 
We  are  all  Arminians  in  the  natural  grit ;  but  Scrip¬ 
ture  comes  in  to  correct  this — showing  the  con¬ 
demnation  of  all  to  be  just,  and  the  salvation  of  any 
to  be  of  grace. 

1 

Truth  Many  sided. 

-  Men  often  start  with  wrong  or  imperfect  premises, 
and  go  right  on,  like  a  horse  with  blinders,  not  per¬ 
ceiving  what  lies  on  either  hand.  But  it  is  a  mistake 
to  suppose  that  logic  goes  only  in  a  straight  line. 
Truth  is  manysided,  and  it  radiates  from  above  and 
beneath,  from  north,  south,  east,  and  west.  It  is  not 
a  line,  but  to  be  compared  rather  to  a  surface  or  a 
solid.  There  is  a  sense,  though  not  the  popular 
sense,  in  which  it  is  well  to  be  “  broad  church,”  and 
“  catholic.” 


Mails  Imperfect  Comprehension. 

An  engineer  and  an  intellectual  fly  would  form 
very  different  conceptions  of  the  machinery  in  one 


122 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


of  our  England  cotton  factories,  supposing 

them  to  enter  together.  The  engineer  would  see 
the  whole  in  every  part.  The  fly,  settling  on  a 
single  cog,  would  see  only  parts  in  the  whole.  We 
are  the  flies,  relatively  to  the  system  of  the  universe 
and  the  plan  of  God  ;  and  very  poor  flies  we  often 
are  too. 


REASON  AND  REVELATION. 


A//  Knoiv ledge  is  based  on  Faith. 

OMNIA  exeunt  e  mysteria :  all  knowledge  is 
ultimately  based  on  faith  in  the  unintelligible. 
This  is  true  of  so  ordinary  a  thing,  for  instance,  as 
the  assimilation  of  food. 


The  Uses  of  Reason. 

Under  this  head  you  must  distinguish  between 
these  three : — 

(1)  The  tisus  organicus  of  reason — i.e.^  its  use  as  a 
prehensile,  an  organ  of  apprehension. 

(2)  The  judicium  contradictionis — i.e.,  its  use  in 
determining  as  to  the  possibility  of  a  thing. 

(3)  The  judicmm  testimonii — i.e.,  its  use  in  judg¬ 
ing  of  the  evidence  in  any  special  case. 

Essentials  to  Faith. 

In  the  first  place,  truth  must  be  apprehended  in 
order  to  be  believed :  for  instance,  a  Chinese  pro- 


BREVIA  TPIEOLOGICA. 


1  24 

verb  to  you  and  to  me  would  be  meaningless,  and 
could  not  therefore  be  believed.  In  the  next  place, 
an  evident  impossibility  cannot  be  believed  ;  for  it 
cannot  be  a  truth,  and  therefore  cannot  be  an  object 
of  faith.  And  in  the  third  place,  faith  must  have 
adequate  evidence  :  else  it  is  mere  superstition. 

Importance  of  Appropriate  Evidence. 

The  quality  as  well  as  quantity  of  evidence  is  of 
prime  importance.  It  is  to  the  ear,  not  to  the  eye, 
we  turn  for  evidence  about  a  sound  :  and  to  the  con¬ 
science  rather  than  the  intellect  for  the  evidence  of 
moral  truth. 


Mind  a7id  Nature. 

Logically,  the  science  of  mind  precedes  the  science 
of  nature.  Established  facts  in  either  of  these  cannot 
be  ignored  by  theologians. 

The  Proof  of  a  Divine  Revelatiofi. 

The  order  of  proof  should  be  :  that  a  supernatural 
revelation  is  ( i )  possible.,  both  a  parte  Dei  and  a  parte 
homhiis ;  (2)  probable,  whether  we  view  it  from 
God’s  side  or  man’s  ;  and  (3)  actual,  as  something 
demonstrably  given  to  us  in  God’s  word. 

A  StLpematural  Revelation  possible. 

On  Theistic  or  Christian  ground,  a  supernatural 
revelation  is  evidently  possible  on  the  side  of  God. 


REASON  AND  REVELATION. 


125 


Whether  it  is  possible  on  marHs  side  will  depend 
on  man’s  constitution.  Now,  we  find  that  in  its 
appeal  to  us  the  Bible  awakens  ideas  and  feelings 
till  then  dormant,  but  not  new  in  the  sense  that 
they  cannot  be  analysed.  Thus  we  can  affirm,  not 
only  that  our  God  can  reveal  Himself ;  but  that 
we  have  organs  to  receive  this  revelation. 


A  Supernatural  Revelation  probable. 

Its  probability  may  be  argued  from  the  necessity 
there  is  for  it  on  the  side  of  God’s  creature  man. 


A  Supernatural  Revelation  actual. 

Its  actuality  is  shown  by  various  lines  of  evidence. 
One  of  the  strongest  of  these  is  the  unity  of  the 
Bible  as  an  organic  whole,  though  its  parts  were 
given  forth  at  long  intervals,  and  through  men  so 
widely  separated  in  various  ways.  Appeal  may  be 
also  made  to  “  the  demonstration  of  the  Spirit.” 
Christ  says,  “  if  any  man  will  do  His  will,  he  shall 
know  of  the  doctrine  ”  ;  so  that  religion  is,  in  a  sense, 
a  branch  of  experimental  philosophy. 


Science  not  the  subject  of  Revelation. 

Man  is  left  to  digest  phenomena  himself,  and 
thence  to  elaborate  science.  God  did  not  reveal  the 
latter.  Otherwise  it  could  not  have  been  spoken  of 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


I  26 

as  “  science.”  Genuine  science  does  not  conflict 
with  revelation. 

Priest  and  Prophet  defined. 

The  priest  is  one  who  represents  men  before  God  : 
the  prophet  is  one  who  represents  God  before  men. 
Both  are  mediators,  but  in  opposite  directions. 

The  Mystics  a7id  the  Materialists. 

Note  how  extremes  meet.  The  mystics,  who 
deemed  themselves  eminently  spiritual,  fell  into  the 
materialistic  theory  of  an  organic  substantial  one¬ 
ness  with  God.  The  true  doctrine  of  union  with 
God  is,  that  we  have  to  be  brought  into  moral  rela¬ 
tionship  with  Him,  as  person  with  person — not  that 
our  personality  is  to  be  mixed  or  fused  with  His. 

Quakerism. 

George  Fox  was  its  originator ;  William  Penn,  its 
social  founder  ;  Robert  Barclay,  its  doctrinal  ex¬ 
ponent.  There  is  a  great  variety  of  Quakers  in 
America.  Those  of  Indiana  are  often  to  be  counted 
excellent  Christians,  while  the  progressive  Friends 
in  Pennsylvania  are  as  indifferent  a  body  of  people 
as  you  will  readily  find  on  this  side  of  the  sphere. 

English  “  Evangelicals^ 

The  Evangelical  party  in  the  English  Church 
differs  from  the  Broad,  in  emphasizing  God’s  word 


REASON  AND  REVELATION. 


127 


and  grace,  as  contrasted  with  man’s  mere  reason 
and  moral  consciousness.  It  differs  from  the 
Ritualistic  party,  in  maintaining  the  ethical  as 
against  the  magical  view  of  man’s  relationship  and 
access  to  God. 


“  Reasofi  ”  as  Rome  views  it. 

From  the  Romish  standpoint,  all  Protestants  are 
rationalistic :  and  this  chiefly  because  the  judicium 
contradictionis  (defined  above)  is  so  freely  applied  to 
such  dogmas  as  transubstantiation  and  the  like. 

The  Romanist's  Ground  of  Faith. 

He  accepts  a  dogma  like  transubstantiation,  be¬ 
cause  he  believes  that  the  Apostles  taught  it.  He 
believes  that,  again,  because  tradition  says  so  ;  and 
this,  again,  because  the  existing  Church  so  declares. 
It  is  only  in  the  last  step  of  definition  that  the 
Pope  is  regarded  as  ex-cathedra  infallible. 

Explicit  versus  Implicit  Faith. 

Explicit  faith  knows  its  object ;  implicit  faith 
accepts  that  of  which  it  has  no  direct  knowledge 
whatever.  By  explicit  faith,  the  Romanist  believes 
the  Church  infallible ;  by  implicit  faith  he  then 
accepts  any  unknown  conceivable  doctrine  which 
the  Church  maintains  or  may  at  any  time  pro¬ 
mulgate. 


128 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


The  Vulgate. 

This  was  the  great  mother  of  translations,  and  of 
great  value  at  the  time  when  it  was  written ;  but  the 
Papal  Church  has  committed  the  absurdity  of  setting 
it  before  the  original. 


Church  Development. 

Some  have  held — and  Dr  Schaff,  formerly  at  least, 
among  them — that  the  development  of  the  Church 
has  been  normal  and  regular;  so  that  the  doctrine 
of  each  age  was  just  the  doctrine  for  that  age. 
This  is  an  outgrowth  of  realism,  which  regards 
genera  as  real  entities  coming  before  particulars. 
According  to  realism,  the  genus  humanum  was 
created  in  Adam,  existed  in  him,  and  fell.  It  was 
by-and-bye  united  to  Christ,  in  whom  a  fresh  start 
was  given  to  it.  The  Logos  introduced  a  new 
development,  in  germ,  into  the  genus  humanum  ; 
and  this  new  development  is  supposed  to  go  on  in 
stages,  each  of  which  is  perfectly  suited  to  its  own 
time.  To  this  it  may  be  remarked,  that  what  is 
truem  one  age  must  be  true  in  another;  and  that, 
in  point  of  fact,  the  development  of  the  Church  has 
not  been  like  the  growth  of  a  healthy  child  in 
favouring  circumstances  all  along.  The  Church  in 
dark  times  has  developed  error,  and  has  furnished  a 
very  imperfect  type  for  the  contemporary  age. 


REASON  AND  REVELATION. 


129 


The  Ultimate  Appeal. 

The  Scriptures.  If  Jonathan  Edwards  were  to 
come,  proclaiming  a  revelation  contrary  to  the  Bible, 
follow  Scripture  and  let  Jonathan  Edwards  slide  ! 
Even  if  he  wrought  wonders  in  his  support,  these 
would  have  no  effect  on  my  mind — no  sporadic 
miracles  would — unless  their  organic  connection 
could  be  shown  with  the  miracles  and  the  teaching 
of  the  Bible. 

T he  U nreliabil ity  of  T raditio?t . 

This  may  be  shown  from  an  example  taken  from 
our  own  history.  It  is  generally  supposed  that 
Washington’s  mother  was  an  excellent  old  lady, 
grandmother  of  her  country ;  the  truth  is,  as  I 
learned  at  Eredericksburg,  that  Washington  was 
what  he  was  in  spite  of  his  mother.  Yet  the  contrary 
tradition  has  sprung  up  in  a  very  short  time ;  for 
Washington  died  in  1799,  and  the  old  lady  only  a 
short  while  before. 

Papal  Assumptions. 

Each  of  these  three  assumptions  is  unproved  : — 
(i),  that  Peter  was  primate;  (2),  that  Peter  was 
bishop  of  Rome  ;  (3),  that  Peter  was  primate  as 
bishop  of  Rome.  The  last  is  not  unimportant ; 
because  Clement,  for  instance,  might  have  succeeded 
to  the  bishopric  of  Rome  without  the  primacy,  as 

Queen  Victoria  came  to  the  crown  of  England  but 

I 


130 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


not  of  Hanover.  Or,  to  come  nearer  home,  Ulysses 
Grant  was  president  of  the  United  States  and 
husband  of  Mrs  Grant ;  Mr  Hayes  succeeded  him 
— but  not  in  both  capacities  ! 

Rome  heretical  07i  her  own  ground. 

The  Church  of  Rome  admits  the  infallibility  of 
Scripture,  and  yet  teaches  doctrine  in  manifest  con¬ 
tradiction  to  it.  On  -her  own  ground  she  is  heretical, 
as  well  as  inconsistent  with  herself 

The  True  Church  Catholic. 

“  I  believe  in  the  Holy  Catholic  Church,”  and  that 
in  a  twofold  sense  :  (i)  as  the  elect  of  God  in  heaven 
and  on  earth  ;  and  (2)  as  the  oecumenical  visible 
Church  of  true  believers  in  all  their  various  organisa¬ 
tions.  On  this  Church  question,  Rome  connects  the 
wrong  subject  with  the  right  predicate. 

The  Question  of  Succession. 

If  George  Washington  had  had  children,  are  you 
sure  there  would  have  been  a  succession  of  Washing¬ 
tons  1  Would  they  have  been  necessarily  children 
of  the  spirit  as  well  as  of  the  flesh  }  President 
Grant’s  son  may  succeed  to  his  horses  and  his  box  of 
cigars,  if  the  latter  are  not  all  smoked  out  :  but  will 
he  necessarily  succeed  to  the  qualities  that  made  his 
father  President  t  If  the  States  issue  a  gold  dollar. 


REASON  AND  REVELATION.  I3I 

and  I  take  a  bit  of  paper  and  tell  you  it  is  the  dollar’s 
successor,  will  you  take  it  ?  Not  much.  I  don’t 
like  to  get  into  politics,  but  a  deal  of  our  trouble 
arises  out  of  this  very  thing.  Government  cannot 
make  paper  into  dollars,  though  they  may  force  you 
to  take  them  as  such. 

Just  so  with  the  so-called  successor  of  the  Apostles 
— this  old  man  who  has  none  of  the  qualities  and 
characteristics  of  the  Apostles. 


The  Question  of  Inspiration  really  Tzvo. 

Scripture  is — not  merely  contains — God’s  Word. 
On  the  great  formal  principle  of  the  Reformation, 
that  the  Bible  is  the  Word  of  God  and  the  only 
standard  of  faith,  all  the  Reformed  Churches,  Cal- 
vinistic  and  Lutheran,  are  agreed.  But  when  we 
afhrm,  “  The  Bible  is  inspired  ” — two  questions  are 
raised  :  (i)  what  is  meant  by  the  subject  here  and 
(2)  what  do  you  mean  by  the  predicate  t 

A postolic  and  Canonical  ziot  the  same. 

If  a  manuscript  were  found  which  could  be  proved 
by  internal  and  external  evidence  to  be  by  an 
Apostle,  would  you  have  it  engrossed  in  the  Canon  } 
Yes,  if  it  were  written  in  the  capacity  of  an  Apostle, 
and  not,  for  instance,  a  letter  from  Peter  to  his  wife’s 
mother,  however  excellent  the  advices  to  the  old 
lady  might  be. 


132 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


The  Extent  of  Apostolic  Inspiration. 

How  far,  precisely,  the  inspiration  of  the  Apostles 
extended  we  cannot  tell.  But  it  extended  to  all  their 
teaching  (“  whosoever  heareth  you  heareth  me  ”)  and 
to  much  of  their  official  action. 

IsaiaJis  Inspiration  versus  Shakespeare' s. 

Isaiah,  like  Shakespeare,  was  no  common  man — a 
genius  ;  but  in  addition  to  great  natural  gifts,  he  was 
under  a  special  supernatural  guidance,  which  con¬ 
stitutes  the  differentiating  element  between  them. 

The  Fact  versus  the  Explanation  of  Inspiration. 

The  question  as  to  the  result  is  different  from  the 
question  as  to  the  process  or  mode  of  its  attainment. 
How  David  was  affected  so  as  to  make  his  psalms 
the  Word  of  God,  I  may  not  know.  That  he  was  so 
affected  is  the  doctrine  of  inspiration,  which  I  believe. 
God  fore-ordained  Shakespeare’s  plays,  every  word. 
God  fore-ordained  the  Bible.  We  see  the  difference 
in  the  product  more  clearly  than  we  can  explain  the 
difference  of  the  cause  or  influence  operating  toward 
the  result.  Generically,  God  influences  and  fore¬ 
ordains  all  man’s  products.  Specifically,  He  in¬ 
fluenced  in  a  peculiar  way,  which  we  cannot  well 
define,  the  products  of  Scripture  writers. 

The  Natural  and  the  Supernatural. 

These,  it  should  be  remembered,  are  not  unrelated. 
The  natural  is  environed  by  the  supernatural ;  and 


REASON  AND  REVELATION.  I  33 

this  again  is  articulated  to  the  natural.  You  may 
find  some  analogy  to  what  is  meant  in  the  co¬ 
existence  and  co-relation  of  the  nervous  and  the 
circulatory  systems  in  the  body.  In  the  matter  of 
inspiration,  even  the  externals — the  men,  the  lan¬ 
guage,  &c. — were  as  the  scaffolding  prepared  by 
God.  The  man,  the  circumstances  of  the  man,  and 
the  supernatural  influence  over  the  man  as  he  wrote 
were  all  of  Him.  Inspiration  was  a  divine  act  not 
operating  in  a  vacuum  but  on  an  organism. 

The  Architectofiic  Principle  in  Scripture. 

A  force,  such  as  gravity,  is  different  from  the 
directive  life  principle,  say  in  a  seed  making  it  an 
oak.  There  is  what  may  be  called  an  architec¬ 
tonic  principle  discoverable  in  Nature — directing 
the  chemical  forces,  for  instance,  which  go  to  the 
upbuilding  of  a  tree.  So  with  the  written  Word. 
Inspiration  is  the  architectonic  principle  which  guided 
and  directed  the  action  of  the  writers  without  inter¬ 
fering  with  its  spontaneity;  just  as  one  at  the  tiller 
of  a  boat  may  steer  in  spite  of  current  influence, 
while  the  rowers  are  free  to  put  forth  their  full 
activities. 

Illustration  from  the  building  of  St  Pauls. 

At  the  rearing  of  St  Paul’s  Cathedral,  there  was 
so  much  horse  or  ass  force  employed ;  but  it  was  all 


134 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


directed  by  the  thought,  the  genius,  the  organizing 
faculty  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren.  The  poor,  feeble 
old  man  had  not  one  ass-force  in  himself  But  who 
was  the  author  of  St  Paul’s  ?  Not  the  hod-carriers, 
surely,  but  Sir  Christopher.  And  whose  is  the 
authorship  of  the  Bible  ?  It  belongs  not  to  the 
mere  human  instruments,  but  to  that  All  Wise 
Almighty  Architect  under  whose  inspiration  they 
each  did  their  part. 


Illustratio7i  fro7n  Music. 

A  musician  sometimes  plays  another  man’s  music 
on  another  man’s  instrument.  But  he  may  make  an 
instrument  to  suit  himself,  and  compose  music  for 
his  own  rendering.  So,  we  may  say — without  press¬ 
ing  the  illustration  too  far,  since  God  works  on  the 
minds  of  men  from  within  and  not  mechanically 
from  without — God  wanted  a  great  organ,  with  all 
kinds  of  pipes  in  it,  for  music  of  His  own.  Hence 
He  prepared  Moses,  and  David,  and  Isaiah,  and  the 
rest ;  and  by  His  touch  evoked  from  them  precisely 
what  He  wanted.  The  result  is  His,  though  the 
tone  or  tiiTibre  belongs  to  their  individuality. 


Ple7tary  l7ispiratio7i. 

A  chain  is  no  stronger  than  its  links  :  and  if  you 
are  to  have  any  infallible  record,  it  must  be  so  down 
to  the  words.  It  may  be  true  that  we  have  not  now 


REASON  AND  REVELATION. 


135 


a  metaphysically  correct  copy  of  the  original  revela¬ 
tion.  But  God  gave  at  first  an  infallible  rule  :  and 
that  is  something  better  for  us  than  to  have  a  meta¬ 
physically  correct  copy  of  a  rule  which  was  not 
originally  in  all  points  infallible.  We  have  a  definite 
point  to  work  back  to  in  the  original  autographs. 


PaiiVs  direct  clahn  to  Ple7tary  Inspiration. 

There  is  an  occasional  expression  in  Paul’s  writings 
which  is  wrongly  interpreted  sometimes  in  a  con¬ 
trary  sense,  but  which  is  really  an  explicit  claim  to 
plenary  inspiration.  When  he  says,  in  i  Cor.  vii.  10, 
“  I  command,  yet  not  I  but  the  Lord,”  he  makes 
evident  reference  to  the  Lord’s  own  express  in¬ 
junction  in  Matt.  xix.  6.  And  when,  a  few  verses 
later,  i  Cor.  vii.  12,  he  adds,  “But  to  the  rest  say  I, 
not  the  Lord,”  the  evident  meaning  is,  “  The  Lord 
did  not  speak  particularly  on  this ;  but  I,  Paul,  say  ” 
(so  with  verse  25).  Such  an  expression  is  really  to 
put  in  an  accentuated  form  the  very  claim  he 
makes  in  i  Cor.  xiv.  37.  To  compare  great  things 
with  small,  it  is  as  though  I  were  to  say — “  My 
teacher.  Professor  Alexander,  did  not  say  this 
when  he  was  here ;  but  I  teach  it.”  If  this  were  to 
be  interpreted  as  an  assumption  by  me  of  an 
authority  equal  to  that  of  so  distinguished  a  man,  it 
would  mean  great  presumption  on  my  part.  But 
such  presumption  would  be  as  nothing  to  the  utter 


I  36  BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 

blasphemy  of  Paul,  in  making  his  word  as  good  as 
Christ’s,  if  he  were  not  inspired. 

Inspiration  a  Miracle. 

Inspiration  comes  under  the  genus  miracle  :  and  a 
miracle  is  a  phenomenon  which  must  be  attributed 
to  the  intervention  of  God. 


III. 


THE  UNIVERSE. 

Causation. 

IT  is  a  mere  truism  to  say,  “  Every  effect  must 
have  a  cause.”  The  case  is  better  stated,  from, 
the  point  of  view  of  consciousness,  by  M‘Cosh  when 
he  says,  Every  new  thing,  every  change,  must  have  a 
cause.”  What  particular  cause  produces  a  particular 
effect,  we  ascertain  by  experience.  But  the  tran¬ 
scendental  judgment,  that  “like  causes  under  like 
circumstances  will  produce  like  effects,”  is  attained 
not  by  experience,  but  by  intuition. 

A  Reasonable  Postulate. 

“  Every  change  must  have  a  cause  suitable  and 
adequate.''  This  very  reasonable  assumption  the 
materialist  cannot  afford  to  grant  us. 

A  Philosopher  refuted  by  a  Dog. 

Kant  held  that  it  is  a  mere  subjective  law — that 
we  must  think  that  every  effect  must  have  a  cause. 
If  you  pinched  a  dog’s  tail  and  immediately  cried — 
“  Oh,  sir,  it’s  quite  a  mistake  :  nobody  pinched  it !  ” 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


13^ 

do  you  think  you  could  convince  the  dog  ?  I  never 
saw  a  dog  yet  that  agreed  with  the  philoso^ers  ;  so 
the  philosophers  must  be  wrong. 

W/iat  is  meant  by  the  A  hsoliite  ? 

The  Absolute  is  the  unrelated,  the  unconditioned  ; 
so  that  of  course  there  cannot  be  two  Absolutes. 
As  regards  relations  out  of  Himself,  God  was 
absolute  before  creation.  Whenever  He  created 
so  much  as  a  grain  of  sand,  however,  he  became 
related.  Consciousness  implies  relation  ;  it  involves 
subject-subject  and  subject-object.  Hence  it  is 
concluded  that  the  Absolute,  in  the  philosophic 
sense,  cannot  be  conscious.  (But  here  comes  in  our 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity). 

hi  what  sense  is  God  absolute  ? 

God  is  absolute  not  in  the  sense  that  He  cannot 
come  into  relation,  but  in  the  sense  that  He  deter¬ 
mines  His  own  relations.  God  has  certain  inteimal 
relations,  which  are  eternal  and  necessary.  But  as 
to  external  relations  He  is  absolute,  in  the  sense 
explained ;  He  is  the  ordinating  centre  of  the 
universe. 


The  Infinite  versus  the  All. 

God  has  infinite  power.  But  the  devil  has  some 
power.  God  has  infinite  wisdom ;  but  even  preachers 
have  some  wisdom.  Thus  the  Infinite  is  different 
from  the  All. 


THE  UNIVERSE. 


139 


W/iat  is  Knowledge  ? 

Knowledge  {notitid)  is  the  apprehension  of  a  thing 
as  true.  But  there  is  knowledge — and  knowledge. 
It  may  be  (take  geometry  and  mechanics,  for  in¬ 
stance)  either  a  mere  notion  or  a  power.  Thus, 
“  to  know  God  ”  is  a  phrase  that  may  have  widely 
different  meanings,  “  Comprehensive  knowledge,” 
we  m.ay  add,  must  be  extensive  and  intensive  too,  to 
be  worthy  of  the  name. 

A  Popular  Account  of  Knowledge. 

In  the  carpet,  there  is  material  and  organization  : 
God’s  wool  and  man’s  brain — result,  the  carpet. 
In  man’s  life,  you  have  varying  experiences  and  the 
human  mind  organizing — result,  knowledge.  We 
have  not  intuitions  even,  without  experience  ;  only, 
in  their  case,  experience  is  the  occasion,  not  the 
source. 


An  Unhappy  Phrase. 

“To  make  all  things  of  nothing  ...  in  the  space 
of  six  days,”  is  liable  to  misinterpretation.  Creation 
from  nothing  is  an  act ;  it  did  not  last  six  days. 
There  is  an  important  distinction  apt  to  be  over¬ 
looked  in  the  use  of  such  a  phrase — the  difference  be¬ 
tween  creatio  prima  (out  of  nothing)  and  creatio 
secimda  (out  of  pre-existing  elements,  as  when  “  the 
Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground  ”)  ; 
or  to  put  it  differently,  the  distinction  between  the 


140 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


exercise  on  Gods  part  oi potestas  libera  (free  direct 
activity)  and  of  potestas  ordinata  (power  operating 
through  law).  If  it  seems  strange  that  God  should 
in  creation  have  come  down  from  the  high  sphere  of 
potestas  libera  into  that  of  potestas  ordinata,  con¬ 
descending  to  the  use  of  slow-working  means,  the 
same  wonder  meets  us  in  the  scheme  of  redemption, 
with  its  long  eras  of  preparation  for  the  coming  of 
the  Christ  Why  did  not  God  literally  create  “  all 
things  out  of  nothing  ”  apart  from  processes  }  I  will 
tell  you,  when  you  answer  me  this — Why  did  not 
God  send  the  Saviour  without  waiting  till  long 
preliminary  eras  had  run  their  course  ?  If  you  can 
answer  the  one  query,  you  will  have  little  difficulty 
with  the  other. 

A  71  hjiportaiit  Distiiictiofi. 

Creation  is  not  in  thought,  but  in  willing.  This 
world  has  been  eternally  in  God’s  thought,  in  which 
sense  we  may  speak  of  the  eternal  decree :  the  world 
is  not,  however,  eternal,  but  only  as  old  as  the 
volition  which  gave  it  birth. 


Cave  Spinoza. 

In  dealing  with  a  system  like  Spinoza’s,  look  well 
to  its  definitions.  If  you  grant  these,  logic  will  do 
the  rest.  But  “substance,”  for  instance,  is  not  the 
self-existent  and  independent  m  his  seiise.  It  has 
not  an  absolute  independence,  though  relatively  to 


THE  UNIVERSE. 


I4I 

attributes  it  is  “the  thing  in  itself.”  All  Spinoza-ism 
is  in  its  definitions. 

Mind  the  Origm  of  Action. 

Matter  nowhere  originates  action.  But  when  we 
get  back  to  a  conscious  will — a  mind  expressing 
itself  in  volition — we  reach  an  originator  of  change. 
You  find  a  row  of  bricks  knocking  each  other  over; 
you  go  back  and  back,  brick  by  brick,  till  you  reach  a 
human  leg,  and  so  to  the  will  of  the  boy  who  kicked, 
and  to  whom  you  give  a  thrashing  for  his  pains  ! 

The  Citadel  against  Materialism. 

If  we  give  over  consciousness,  we  are  in  the  hands 
of  the  materialists  in  a  minute. 

Philosophy  in  Etymology. 

“Nature”  is  an  effect — a  change — an  eternal  be¬ 
coming.  Its  very  name  means  “  being  born  :  ”  there¬ 
fore  it  must  have  a  producer. 

Idea  and  Form. 

Form  is  the  “  quiddity  ”  of  a  thing — that  which 
makes  it  what  it  is.  The  Idea  determines  the 
shape.  Thus  a  cactus  and  a  rose  may  be  of  the 
same  material ;  but  a  different  idea  takes  shape  in  a 
widely  different  form. 

Plato  s  Ideas. 

The  ideas  of  Plato  may  be  compared,  approxi¬ 
mately,  to  the  countless  moulds  of  a  founder.  As 


142 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


iron  is  poured  into  these,  so  when  matter  fills  out 
the  Ideas  countless  existence-forms  are  the  result. 

Final  versus  First  Cause. 

The  final  is  not  to  be  confused  with  the  first 
cause ;  it  refers  not  to  the  origin  of  a  thing,  but  to 
the  object  for  which  it  was  made. 

A  ristotelic  Distinctions. 

Take  a  chair.  Its  material  cause  is  the  wood  ; 
efficient^  the  carpenter ;  instrumental.,  the  tools ; 
formal,  the  idea  determining  its  shape ;  final,  the 
end  it  is  made  for,  viz.,  to  be  sat  upon. 

To  deny  Final  Causes,  vain. 

Anything  which  becomes,  or  begins  to  be,  if  in¬ 
telligible,  must  be  the  product  of  mtelligence.  Hence, 
philosophers  who  claim  to  understand  the  universe, 
are  not  helped  by  denying  final  causes. 

A  greater  Paley  needed. 

Paley’s  argument  is  a  perfect  statement  on  its 
level.  His  logical  faculty  was  superb,  his  intuitive 
faculty  deficient.  What  is  now  wanted  is  another 
and  greater  Paley,  to  re-write  the  argument  from 
design  in  view  of  the  advance  of  science. 

A  Typical  Being. 

Paley  will  be  a  typical  being  in  the  museum  of 
H  eaven,  if  he  has  a  place  there.  There  never  was  a 


THE  UNIVERSE, 


143 


more  strictly  logical  mind  ;  but  he  was  singularly 
lacking  in  philosophic  or  metaphysical  sweep. 

What  is  Instinct  ? 

Instinct  is  the  reason  of  God  working.  It  is  an 
organic  pre-adaptation  of  the  creature  towards  certain 
pre-determined  results.  Instinct  works  mechani¬ 
cally  ;  it  stimulates  the  bee,  for  instance,  to  make 
cones  with  mathematical  exactness.  It  is  commonly 
said  that  while  man  has  reason,  the  lower  animals 
have  instinct.  But  it  is  also  true  that  a  dog,  for 
example,  has  reason,  and  that  man  has  instinct.  Or 
let  us  take,  not  a  dog,  but  even  a  spider.  The  spider 
makes  webs  by  instinct ;  man  builds  bridges  by 
reason,  through  experiment.  But,  besides  its  in¬ 
stinct,  the  spider  has  from  God  a  little  understanding, 
so  that  it  can  mend  its  web  and  adapt  its  operations 
to  circumstances.  The  difference  is,  that  man  has  a 
sea  of  reason  and  a  drop  of  instinct ;  the  spider,  a 
drop  of  reason  and  a  sea  of  instinct. 

The  Old  Materialism  and  the  New, 

The  two  are  essentially  the  same.  But  the  old 
materialism  was  metaphysical  or  ontological  in  its 
method  of  discussion,  while  the  modern  materialism 
is  scientific. 

Old  and  New  meet  together. 

The  “heredity”  of  Darwinism  is  just  the  “ten¬ 
dency”  of  the  atoms  of  Epicurus  writ  new. 


144 


BREVIA  THEOLOGTCA. 


The  Fallacy  of  Ezwhition. 

You  can’t  get  a  human  soul  out  of  mud.  Bricks 
the  Juggler  used  to  bring  eggs  and  puddings 
and  singing  birds  out  of  his  hat.  But  he  had  to 
slip  them  surreptitiously  in  first.  And  so  is  it  with 
Dr.  Darwin. 

The  Conditions  of  Existence  not  its  Expla^iation. 

The  conditions  of  existence  make  existence 
possible,  and  may  be  said  to  limit  its  possibility. 
But  it  is  absurd  to  say  that  they  explain  existence. 
The  conditions  of  potato  culture  were  present  in 
Ireland,  but  the  plant  had  to  be  brought  from 
Virginia.  It  is  pleasant  for  a  man  to  get  a  house 
nicely  furnished,  and  then  a  wife ;  but  when  you  go 
to  see  him  under  such  happy  conditions,  you  do  not 
see  in  these  his  explanation ! 

Hoiv  Darzvhis  own  Terms  refute  him. 

Words  like  “selection,”  “  adaptation,”  “intention,” 
and  so  forth,  all  imply  design^  which  Darwin  denies. 

Where  Carpenter  goes  ivrong. 

As  has  often  been  the  case  with  heresy.  Carpenter 
is  right  in  what  he  affirms,  but  wrong  in  what  he 
denies. 


What  is  Force  ? 

Force  is  a  simple  idea,  which  cannot  be  reached 
by  analysis,  synthesis,  or  analogy,  but  only  by  ex- 


THE  UNIVERSE. 


HS 


perience.  Force  is  “a  push,”  or  “a  pull,”  which 
comes  into  the  experience  of  our  organism  in  anta¬ 
gonizing  gravitation.  It  is  not  movecnent,  but  that 
which  tends  to  produce  movement. 

Is  Will  a  Force  ? 

Strictly  speaking,  it  is  not.  What  is  there  to  show 
that  it  is  }  When  an  old  friend  clasps  and  squeezes 
my  hand,  that  is  muscle  force — bread  and  butter 
force  —  and  ultimately  sun  force.  The  will  may 
direct ;  but  the  force  is  not  in  proportion  to  the 
volition  but  to  the  muscularity,  as  would  be  seen  if  I 
were  to  receive  a  no  less  warm  welcome  from  the 
same  friend  lying  on  a  sickbed,  with  his  frame 
enfeebled  by  disease. 

The  Controlling  Power  of  Will. 

If  she  will,  the  engineer’s  little  girl  may  with  her 
little  finger  set  agoing  or  stop  the  train. 

President  Edivards  criticised. 

There  is  one  apparent  fault  in  Jonathan  Edwards; 
he  fails  to  keep  his  terms  clean.  He  was  a  great 
genius,  but  an  imperfectly  educated  man.  He 
defines  a  term  in  one  way,  and  then  uses  it  in  some 
other  sense.  Thus  his  work  on  Will  was  hailed  in 
Scotland  as  a  bulwark  of  orthodoxy  ;  whereas  in 
England  it  was  worked  into  the  basis  of  necessitari¬ 
anism,  atheism,  and  materialism. 

K 


146 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


Is  Mind  a  Substance  ? 

Yes  ;  though  not  a  material  one.  The  definition 
of  “  substance”  includes —objective  existence,  power, 
permanence. 


The  Beauty  of  St  Pauls. 

St  Paul’s  Cathedral  is  wonderful,  simply  as  a  mass 
of  matter  reared  up  toward  heaven,  but  still  more 
wonderful  as  a  mass  organised  through  an  idea. 
There  is  in  it  the  beauty  of  unity  in  midtiplicity . 
The  engineer  may  calculate  the  amount  of  force 
required  to  bring  and  rear  the  stones  in  their  places; 
so  much  horse  power,  man  power,  or  steam  power 
may  be  correlated.  But  to  learn  the  secret  of  the 
structure’s  beauty,  I  must  turn  to  the  directing  mind 
which  supplied  the  principle  on  which  St  Paul’s  is 
built. 


Priority. 

Matter  or  spirit  — which  comes  logically  first } 
Materialists  and  Idealists  are  often  both  absurd,  but 
the  former  more  so.  /  feel  the  stove  to  be  hot ;  the 
consciousness  of  self-existence  is  more  immediate 
than  consciousness  of  the  external  world. 

Physical  Events  versus  Mental  Acts. 

The  Indians,  accustomed  to  see  the  sail  vessels  of 
the  Europeans,  were  completely  mystified  when 


THE  UNIVERSE. 


147 


steamships  were  introduced.  Without  pushing  the 
analogy  too  far,  we  may  compare  a  physical  event 
to  the  sail  ship,  propelled  from  without ;  a  mental 
act,  to  the  steamship,  self-determined,  moved  from 
within. 


Best  Mode  of  A  7^gument  zvitJi  Scientists. 

Every  thought  exists  in  the  middle  of  a  chain  of 
precedences  and  consequences.  We  may  thus,  in 
argument,  cut  the  chain  either  before  or  behind, 
according  as  we  use  the  scientific  or  the  reductio  ad 
ahsurdmn  method.  In  dealing  with  the  theories  of 
scientists,  the  latter  is  the  more  natural  for  the  theo¬ 
logian  to  take.  He  has  to  accept  the  facts,  but  can 
claim  to  criticise  the  inferences  and  the  consequences 
from  these. 


A  Nebulous  Dile77t7na. 

Here  is  a  dilemma  for  exponents  of  the  nebulous 
theory.  If  infinite,  filling  all  space,  the  nebulous 
matter  cannot  cool  and  concentrate,  as  the  theory 
demands,  round  points  of  radiation.  If  finite,  the 
nebulous  matter  must  have  a  surface  and  radiate 
heat  out  on  the  infinite  void,  thus  becoming,  how¬ 
ever  great  it  is,  ultimately  cold  and  dead. 

A  True  Inference  for  Huxley. 

Living  protoplasm  and  dead  protoplasm  are 
chemically  the  same,  says  Mr  Huxley.  Therefore, 
we  say,  life  is  not  due  to  their  chemical  identity. 


148 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


Theism  versus  Deism. 

The  difference  here  is  one  of  usage  merely. 
Theist  strictly  includes  all  who  believe  in  a  personal 
God ;  Deist  is  used  to  differentiate  those  who  deny 
His  mundane  authority  and  supervision. 


The  True  in  Deism  and  Pantheisrn  conserved. 

The  Deist  makes  God  the  first  cause  of  the  world, 
but  regards  Him  as  altogether  apart  from  the 
machine  He  has  made  and  set  in  operation. 

The  Pantheist  holds  God  to  be  immanent  in  the 
world  and  expressing  Himself  through  it 

The  Christian,  rejecting  the  false,  combines  the  true 
in  both  these  systems,  when  he  declares  that  God  is 
the  maker  governor  of  the  world — both  transient 

and  immanent — beyond  and  above  the  world,  as 
well  as  in  it. 


A  Caveat  on  P ayitheism. 

Pantheism  does  not  say,  “  The  universe  is  God.” 
That,  in  effect,  would  be  atheism.  But  what  it  says 
is,  “  The  universe  is  a  phenomenon,  an  existence- 
form  of  God.”  God  it  regards  as  the  esse,  under¬ 
lying  the  attributes  or  conditions  ;  and  a  ‘‘  pheno¬ 
menon,”  as  its  etymology  suggests,  is  a  transient 
form  of  being  “coming  into  sight.”  To  illustrate — 
water  is  the  existence-form  of  Oxygen  and  Hydrogen. 


THE  UNIVERSE. 


149 


But  these,  in  their  synthesis,  may  exist  as  ice  or  as 
vapour  too.  So  God,  says  Pantheism,  may  have 
many  existence-forms. 

The  Basis  of  Attack  on  Pantheism. 

The  great  solvent  on  Pantheism  is  our  personal 
consciousness  as  intelligent  free  agents.  Aggression 
against  Pantheism  must  begin  here  ;  it  has  no  room 
for  proper  personality,  though  it  speaks  of  a  kind  of 
individualisation.  Just  as  a  factory  has  one  generat¬ 
ing  force  in  the  boiler,  which  is  individualised  in 
its  application  to  a  thousand  different  kinds  of 
machines, — so,  according  to  this  theory,  will,  intelli¬ 
gence,  &c.,  are  individualised  in  a  multitude  of 
human  embodiments.  Then,  if  you  break  the 
machine  the  force  remains  equal  in  amount,  though 
not  individualised  as  before. 

How  Polytheism  is  related  to  P antheism. 

Polytheism  is  exoteric  in  origin  (personifying 
nature)  ;  Pantheism  esoteric  (deifying  to  izav  or 
TO  eV).  Can  a  whole  nation  be  Pantheistic  }  No  ; 
haven’t  got  brains  enough — that’s  safe  !  Pantheism 
is  the  greatest  generalisation  possible.  Polytheism 
is  its  needful  practical  or  popular  accompaniment. 

Who  would  deify  the  Devil? 

With  the  Pantheist,  everything  is  a  manifestation 
of  God  ;  and  where  there  is  most  power,  there  is  the 
fullest  manifestation  of  Him.  Now  Beelzebub  is  far 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


150 

more  powerful  than  a  good  Presbyterian — more  than 
a  match,  indeed,  for  the  whole  General  Assembly ! 
Hence  evil,  and  Satan  himself,  come  to  be  deified. 

Scientific  P  antkeism  distinguished  from  Popidar. 

According  to  scientific  Pantheism,  God  and  His 
existence-form  are  co-eternal  and  mutually  indis¬ 
pensable.  According  to  Hinduism,  Brum  existed  first’ 
for  a  long  period,  as  the  Absolute,  of  which  nothing 
could  be  predicated ;  thence  suddenly  arose  the 
universe,  to  be  again,  for  a  long  period,  absorbed  in 
Brum,  till  at  length  there  will  arise  another  similar 
cycle  of  existences. 

Pantheistic  Schools. 

The  Ionic  school  professed  a  Materialistic  Pan¬ 
theism  ;  the  Eleatic,  an  Idealistic ;  the  Stoic,  a 
Hylo-zoic.  The  Neo-plat  onists  of  Alexandria 
(which  became  a  kind  of  Athens  in  the  early 
Christian  centuries)  had  an  eclectic  system.  They 
held  by  absorption  through  ecstasy^ — somewhat  akin 
to  the  Hindu’s  method  of  focalising  his  attention  on 
Brum  (nothing)  till  he  become  Brum.  However 
spiritual  some  of  these  systems  of  absorption  may 
profess  to  be,  they  are  in  reality  materialistic. 

A  Laughable  Conquest  over  Brum. 

Ancient  Pantheism  is  no  match  for  modern  science. 
A  young  English  doctor  by  the  judicious  use  of  a 


THE  UNIVERSE. 


151 

little  ammonia  quickly  brought  a  worthy  old  Hindu 
out  of  Brum  again  ! 

The  Yankee^  not  a  Hindu. 

A  Hindu  whom  you  wrong  may  come  and  die 
at  your  door  to  spite  you,  and  in  order  that  he  may 
get  a  stage  or  two  higher  in  the  new  life  while  you 
are  sent  a  stage  or  two  lower  down.  But  you  won’t 
get  a  Yankee  to  do  that :  he  wakens  up  to  common 
sense  between  times. 


See  note,  page  118. 


IV. 


THE  BEING  AND  ATTRIBUTES  OF  GOD. 

Oiir  Knoivledge  of  God. 

LL  our  knowledge  of  God  is  to  be  distributed 


under  three  heads — Deus  existens  ;  volens  ; 
agens.  These  three  categories  cover  the  whole  of 
Theology  proper  ;  and  God  is  immutable  in  all  three 
— His  persons,  purposes,  and  works. 


What  is  God  ? 


The  Westminster  answer  to  this  question  is  pro¬ 
bably  the  best  that  ever  was  penned.  God  having 
created  us  in  His  own  image,  His  genus  is  there  fitly 


affirmed — “  a  spirit  ” — and  then  the  specific  differ¬ 


ences  are  added — “infinite,  eternal,  and  unchange¬ 
able,”  &c.  The  next  best  definition  is  that  of  Rein- 
hard — “  Deus  est  natura  necessaria,  a  mundo  diversa, 
summas  complexa  perfectiones,  et  ipsius  mundi 
causa” — -2>.,  self-existent,  extramundane,  perfect, 
the  cause  of  the  world. 


A  Noxious  Family  Tree. 


Atheism  may  be  divided  broadly  into  (i)  practical. 


and  (2)  speculative — the  former  being  atheism  in 


THE  BEING  AND  ATTRIBUTES  OF  GOD.  I  53 

life,  the  latter  in  thought.  Speculative  atheism 
again  is  of  several  kinds — (a)  sceptical,  (d)  dogmatic, 
(c)  virtual.  Sceptical  atheism  may  be  either  per¬ 
sonal — “  I  am  not  satisfied  ” — or  scientific — “  The 
point  is  as  yet  undetermined  for  the  race”  (c/.  Hume). 
Dogmatic  atheism  is  the  rare  and  irrational  kind 
which  will  boldly  affirm — “  The  needle  is  not  in  the 
haystack.”  Virtual  atheism  consists  in  holding 
opinions  which  when  developed  contradict  theism  ; 
so  that  we  might  also  call  it  potential  atheism.  Here 
is  the  bad  genealogy  : — 

Atheism. 


Practical  (in  life).  Speculative  (in  thought). 


Sceptical  Atheism.  Dogmatic.  Virtual  or  Potential. 


Personal.  Scientific. 


Essence  and  Substance  Distinguished, 

These  are  not  exact  equivalents.  Thus,  justice  is 
of  the  essence  but  not  of  the  substance  of  God. 
Essence  is  a  wider  term  than  substance.  Anything 
belongs  to  the  essence  which  cannot  be  withdrawn 
without  removing  that  which  makes  the  thing  what 
it  is.  Thus,  taking  substance  for  that  which  sup¬ 
ports  the  attributes,  essence  includes  substance  'plus 
attributes. 


154 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


M ind  and  Matter. 

The  attributes  of  mind  and  matter  are  incompat¬ 
ible,  and  therefore  the  substances  are  distinct.  The 
phenomena  of  the  one  are  not  to  be  expressed  in 
terms  of  the  other. 

Attributes,  Predicates,  Accidents,  Properties. 

The  Attributes  of  God  are  the  qualities  or  active 
powers  which  belong  to  the  divine  substance.  In 
the  use  of  Predicates,  we  regard  God  as  a  person, 
and  affirm  His  external  relations  (as  Creator,  and 
the  like).  Accidents  (ad,  cado),  which  may  be 
added  or  subtracted  from  a  substance  [e.g.,  the  wet¬ 
ness  of  an  indiarubber  ball)  are  never  found  in 
God.  All  his  qualities  at  any  time  are  attributes. 
By  Properties  in  God  we  mean  His  internal  relations, 
within  the  Trinity. 

Accidents  in  Man  though  not  in  God. 

Holiness,  an  essential  attribute  in  God,  is,  in  the 
philosophic  sense,  an  accident  in  man.  In  the  “  four¬ 
fold  state” — of  innocence,  sinfulness,  grace,  glory — 
the  man  is  the  same  all  through.  So,  too,  knowledge 
may  be  said  to  be  an  accident  in  man  ;  a  new-born 
babe  has  none.  There  are  no  accidents  in  God  ; 
but  in  man  there  are  many. 

No  Idiots  m  Heaven. 

A  babe  has  intelligence  before  it  has  knowledge — 
intelligence,  not  in  function  but  in  faculty,  not  in 


THE  BEING  AND  ATTRIBUTES  OF  GOD.  I  55 

posse  but  in  esse.  An  idiot  also  has  intelligence  in 
esse^  and  will  not  be  an  idiot  in  heaven.  He  may 
be  compared  to  a  fine  musician  with  a  very  poor 
fiddle,  all  out  of  tune.  He  cannot  discourse  sweet 
music  to  you  here.  But  take  him  to  heaven  and 
give  him  a  new  fiddle,  or  a  harp  with  a  thousand 
strings,  and  you  will  see  the  difference ! 


The  Simplicity  of  God. 

Simplicity  is  a  term  with  various  different  mean¬ 
ings.  There  is  chemical  simplicity — that  of  hydrogen 
as  compared  with  water ;  mechanical — that  of  a  stick 
which  consists  of  a  single  piece ;  organic — the  sim¬ 
plicity  of  the  type  of  animal  that  has  only  one 
organ  ;  metaphysical  —  implying  that  there  is  no 
distinction  between  attribute  and  substance.  It  was 
this  last  kind — metaphysical  simplicity' — that  was 
ascribed  to  God  by  the  schoolmen.* 

*  Prof.  Park  of  Andover  told  his  students,  in  my  hearing,  a  story  so 
apt  in  this  connection  that  its  insertion  in  a  footnote  will  be  pardoned. 
This  distinguished  New  England  divine  used  to  break  a  lance  with 
the  elder  Hodge ;  but  the  radical  of  one  generation  is  sometimes  the 
conservative  of  the  next,  and,  as  one  of  the  revenges  brought  in  by  the 
whirligig  of  time,  he  has  now  found  it  needful  to  become,  in  turn,  a 
defender  of  orthodoxy  against  the  “advanced”  school  of  Andover. 
Dr  Park  was  enforcing  on  his  young  men,  when  I  heard  him,  the  im¬ 
portance  not  only  of  having  definite  ideas  themselves,  but  of  expressing 
them  in  language  intelligible  to  others.  A  Scotch  preacher,  he  said — 
and  all  Scotchmen,  he  seemed  to  think,  are  more  or  less  metaphysical 
— began  his  prayer  one  day  :  “  O  Thou  Simplest  of  Beings  !”  .Some 
of  the  honest  country  folk  were  horrified  ;  and  the  matter  found  its 
way  to  the  presbytery.  The  offender  protested  that  “  he  had,  of 
course,  used  the  word  ‘  simple  ’  in  the  metaphysical  sense.”  “  But  the 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


156 

Is  there  any  Latency  in  God  ? 

The  old  scholastic  affirmed  that  God  is  actns 
purus — that  all  that  is  in  Him  is  expressed.  So  we 
find  Dr  Shedd  saying — There  is  no  latency  in  God.” 
This  is  a  great  mistake.  It  is  true  enough  of  some 
preachers  that  I  know.  They  have  three  or  four 
sermons,  which  contain  all  that  is  in  them,  actual 
and  potential ;  unlike  others,  such  as  Dr  Addison 
Alexander,  who  always  left  the  impression,  however 
great  his  discourse  might  be,  that  there  was  much 
behind.  There  is  latency  in  God.  Wonderful  as 
His  work  has  been,  it  is  no  adequate  measure  of  the 
power  of  its  Author.  His  manifestations  give  but 
a  glimpse  of  what  He  is.  God’s  energy  is  not 
mechanical,  like  that  of  a  fountain.  It  is  the  energy 
of  a  person  and  governed  by  will.  It  hath  not 
entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive  what  God 
has  in  store. 


Omnipreserice  of  God. 

God  is  present  at  every  point  of  space  in  every 
moment  of  time.  He  is  thus  spaceless  and  timeless  ; 
for  these  are  limits  which  apply  not  to  Him  but  to 
us. 

people,”  said  his  brethren,  “would  not  understand  it  in  that  sense.” 
“  It  was  not  to  them,”  he  retorted,  “  that  it  was  addressed  ;  I  was 
speaking  to  the  Deity.”  “  It  would  not  be  accepted  by  Him  either, 
in  that  sense,”  said  the  Presbytery  ;  adding  a  sentence  of  suspension, 
as  an  encouragement  to  philosophic  preachers  to  wed  clearness  of 
speech  to  depth  of  thought  ! — C.  A.  S. 


THE  BEING  AND  ATTRIBUTES  OF  GOD.  I57 


Is  God  present  m  Hell  ? 

God  is  present  everywhere  equally  as  to  His 
essence,  though  not  as  to  His  power  or  manifesta¬ 
tion.  He  is  present  in  hell  as  much  as  in  Heaven 
as  to  His  substance  ;  but  His  manifestation  is  widely 
different.  It  is  this  difference  that  makes  Heaven 
and  hell  what  they  are.  It  is  the  Divine  presence 
that  makes  Heaven  —  God’s  loving  presence  in 
Christ.  It  is  God’s  presence,  too,  that  makes  hell — 
His  wrathful  presence,  His  frown.  His  searching 
eye  looking  right  through  the  fallen  spirits  who 
have  impugned  but  cannot  evade  His  righteous 
authority. 

Is  Heaven  Located? 

Yes  ;  by  the  presence,  not  merely  of  God,  who  as 
to  essence  is  everywhere,  but  of  Christ.  Where  He 
is,  Heaven  is — the  metropolis  of  the  universe. 

The  Devil  not  omnipresent^  though  ubiquitous?' 

It  is  idolatry  to  think  of  the  Devil  as  omnipresent ; 
for  this  is  an  attribute  of  God  only.  Ubiquity  is  a 
different  thing  from  omnipresence,  and  may  in  a 
loose  sense  be  ascribed  to  Satan.  The  ubiquity  of 
air  rests  on  its  great  extension  ;  the  ubiquity  of  a 
mosquito  arises  from  rapid  motion  ;  the  ubiquity  of 
a  Napoleon  consists  in  extraordinary  influence  upon 
and  through  others.  Satan’s  ubiquity  is  of  the  latter 
two  kinds — a  ubiquity  of  rapid  motion  and  ramify¬ 
ing  influence. 


•58 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


The  Divine  Consciousness. 

God’s  consciousness  includes  in  synthesis,  at  any 
given  moment,  past,  present,  and  future  —  with 
absolute  accuracy,  comprehension,  and  vividness. 
And  God’s  one  point  of  consciousness — His  one  in¬ 
divisible  eternity— is  parallel  and  contemporaneous 
with  every  instant  in  the  current  line  of  time. 

Eternal  Consciousness  in  God. 

This  may  be  argued  from  the  case  of  Adam. 
You  and  I  gradually  grew  into  consciousness  ;  but 
with  the  first  man  it  was  different.  Adam  was  pro¬ 
duced,  not  by  generation  but  by  creation.  He  came 
into  existence  right  in  the  middle  of  things,  and  in 
the  midst  of  ideas.  Now  if  God  could  create  a 
creature  in  time,  with  a  developed  consciousness, 
apart  from  the  training  influence  of  external  things, 
may  we  not  conceive  of  Himself  as  eternally  con¬ 
scious  apart  from  creation  } 

But  the  question  is  plainly  answered  when  we 
remember  that  God  is  a  Trinity.  This  doctrine 
involves  (i)  that  there  is  one  God;  (2)  that  Father, 
Son,  and  Holy  Ghost  are  this  one  God  ;  and  (3)  that 
these  three  are  mutually  objective  persons,  who  can 
say  ''ThoiT'  to  one  another  \  while  yet  (4)  they  are 
one  in  external  relations,  one  in  eternal  substance, 
having  a  profound  consciousness  of  identity.  Are 
we  not  entitled  to  say  under  this  doctrine  that  there 
is  not  only  a  united  consciousness  but  a  triple  con- 


THE  BEING  AND  ATTRIBUTES  OF  GOD.  I  59 


sciousness,  without  supposing  which  it  is  impossible 
to  perceive  how  one  of  the  persons  could,  e.g.,  say, 
“I  love”  {Cf.  John  xvii.  ^ 

The  Measurement  of  Time. 

To  measure  time,  the  external  criterion  is  motion  ; 
the  internal  criterion  is  thought.  Some  people  can 
apply  this  latter  test  with  wonderful  exactness.  I 
used  to  know  a  man  in  Princeton,  who,  whenever 
you  might  happen  to  ask  him,  could  tell  you  the 
time,  correct  within  five  minutes,  without  the  use  of 
a  watch. 


What  is  Eternity  ? 

To  predicate  “eternity”  strictly  implies  (i)  no 
beginning  ;  (2)  no  end  ;  (3)  no  succession.  Here  is 
a  good  Latin  definition  ;  remember  it,  if  you  should 
forget  your  grandmother : — “  Eternitas  est  una,  in- 
dividua,  et  tota  simul.”.<;^ 

God's  Eter7iity  not  Ours. 

Like  the  asymptote  and  the  hyperbole,  we  shall 
be  always  getting  nearer  God,  but  never  to  Him  in 
our  relation  to  duration.  We  cannot  get  out  of  time 
into  eternity  in  God’s  sense  ;  for  not  only  has  our 
eternity  a  beginning,  but  we  shall  always  have  suc¬ 
cession,  which  is  not  the  case  with  God.  We  shall 
have  infinitely  greater  vistas  hereafter  into  the  past 
and  future  in  one  moment  than  we  can  have  now  ; 


i6o 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


and  we  may  live  hundreds  of  our  present  years  in 
one  moment  then.  But  eternity  is  God's  relation  to 
duration  ;  and  on  that  in  the  strict  sense  no  creature 
can  enter. 

How  God's  Knozvledge  differs  from  Ours. 

It  differs  both  in  range  and  in  quality.  He  knows 
everything ;  and  he  knows  absolutely.  The  affirma¬ 
tion  that  he  knows  everything  may  be  split  up  into 
the  two  propositions — that  he  knows  (i)  Himself ; 
and  (2)  Everything  out  of  Himself  The  major  part 
of  God’s  knowledge  is  the  knowledge  of  Himself 
This  in  philosophic  phrase  is  necessary  knowledge 
{scmitia  necessarid),  not  depending,  i.e.^  on  His  will, 
since  His  own  existence  does  not  arise  from  an  act 
of  will.  In  knowing  Himself,  He  knows  all  that 
is  possible.  As  for  the  knowledge  of  the  actual 
universe,  since  all  things  out  of  Himself  depend  for 
their  existence  on  God’s  will,  His  knowledge  of  these 
is  called  free  knowledge  {scientia  libera),  or  some¬ 
times,  inasmuch  as  things  made  are  seen,  the  know¬ 
ledge  of  sight  {scientia  visionis)  as  contrasted  with 
the  knowledge  of  simple  intelligence  {scientia  sini- 
plicis  intelligentiae). 

Is  Hypothetical  Hioivledge  a  Separate  Category  ? 

The  Spanish  Jesuits,  Molina  and  Fonseca,  made 
much  of  what  they  called  scieritia  media — grounding 
on  it  a  distinction  which  was  eagerly  laid  hold  of  by 


THE  BEING  AND  ATTRIBUTES  OF  GOD.  l6l 


the  Semi-Pelagians,  and  later  by  the  Arminians.  It 
was  argued  by  some — If  my  free  act  is  known 
beforehand,  it  must  be  certain  beforehand,  and  cannot 
therefore  be  free.  To  escape  this  conclusion,  the 
clumsy  invention  of  “  the  hypothetically  future  ”  was 
introduced  ;  and  the  divine  knowledge  of  that  was 
called  scientia  media — the  knowledge  that  if  such- 
and-such  conditions  are  granted,  so-and-so  will  result. 
But  the  distinction  was  a  futile  one.  For  instance,  I 
may  predict,  that  if  you  put  a  match  to  a  powder 
magazine,  you  will  be  blown  up.  But  you  need  not 
call  this  scientia  media :  it  is  simply  knowledge  of 
the  properties  of  gunpowder.  Socinians  have  sought 
another  way  out  of  the  difficulty  adverted  to,  but 
have  made  little  of  it.  Contradictories,  they  argue, 
{e.g.^  to  be  and  not  be),  are  not  objects  of  power; 
therefore  God  is  omnipotent,  though  he  cannot  do 
contradictories.  And  similarly,  the  future  free  acts 
of  free  agents  are  not  objects  of  knowledge ;  there¬ 
fore  God  is  none  the  less  omniscient  though  these 
do  not  come  within  His  ken.  Such  makeshifts  are, 
however,  vain.  They  sound  ingenious,  but  cannot 
serve  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  invented.  It 
remains  that  God,  as  God,  knows  everything  and 
absolutely. 


L 


V. 


THE  EIOLY  TRINITY. 

Contrasted  Heresies. 

debate  is  about  Christ’s  divinity — His  per- 
sonality  being  conceded ;  but  about  the  Spirit’s 
personality — His  divinity  not  being  in  dispute. 

Trinitarianism  intrinsically  most  credible. 

God  is  love,  essentially  and  eternally,  and  must 
have  had  an  object  to  love.  Where?  So  far  from 
my  regarding  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  as  some¬ 
thing  forced  on  me  ab  extra  by  Revelation,  the 
doctrine  of  a  Monotheism  like  that  of  the  Moham¬ 
medans  is  to  me,  intrinsically,  far  more  difficult  to 
believe.  A  person  cannot  in  any  full  sense  be  con¬ 
ceived  as  existing  without  other  persons.  For  my 
part,  I  could  sooner  be  a  Tritheist  or  a  Polytheist 
than  a  deistical  Monotheist. 

Personal  Distinctions  in  the  Godhead. 

The  Spirit  is  both  substantia  and  sjibsistentia. 
Father,  Son,  and  Spirit  are  distinguished  in  the 


THE  HOLY  TRINITY. 


163 

Sphere  of  subsistence,  not  merely  of  economic  opera¬ 
tion — the  difference  being,  you  will  observe,  how¬ 
ever,  one  of  person  not  of  substance. 

An  Analogous  Mystery, 

The  mystery  of  the  Trinity  is — How  Father,  Son, 
and  Spirit  can  be  distinct  supposita  in  one  substance. 
By  a  suppositiim  is  meant  a  distinct,  individual 
organism,  such  as  a  tree — not  a  branch  ;  or  such  as 
a  person — who  is  a  suppositum  of  a  peculiar  kind, 
having  intelligence  and  will.  But  we  have  a  kindred 
mystery  in  our  own  human  constitution,  where,  in 
the  foetus,  the  soul  is  wrapt  round  with  a  body — the 
two  making  together  a  distinct  suppositum.  Here 
reason  fails  to  furnish  an  explanation,  while  it  does 
suggest  an  analogy. 

Organ  versus  Fimction. 

In  the  sense  of  organ,  there  is  but  one  intelligence 
in  God ;  in  the  sense  of  function  there  may  be  said 
to  be  three — in  holding  which  I  may  seem  to  go 
nearer  to  Tritheism  than  some  would  be  disposed  to  go. 

God  is  Light. 

The  Father  is  light  in  Himself ;  the  Son,  em¬ 
bodied  light ;  the  Spirit,  radiant  light.  In  the  God¬ 
head  there  is  thus  light  hidden,  revealed,  executive. 
— No  man  has  seen  Light  at  any  time,  except  as 
specifically  reflected  from  a  disc ;  and  no  man  has 
seen  God  at  any  time  except  in  Christ,  the  Logos, 


164 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


the  effulgence  (aTravyaarjuia)  of  the  Father’s  glory. — 
It  is  through  radiance  that  the  sun  is  omnipresent ; 
so  with  God’s  omnipresence  by  the  Spirit. — Light 
always  tends  to  reproduce,  and  countless  pictures 
are  thrown  off  everywhere,  all  of  which  save  one  are 
shut  off  by  the  camera  obsciira  in  photography.  So 
by  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  image  of 
Christ  is  reproduced  in  the  soul,  as  heaven  is  re¬ 
flected,  toward  eventide,  in  a  lake  no  longer  storm- 
swept  and  darkened,  but  calmed  and  illumined  in 
the  placid  evening  light. — No  ray  of  light  ever  speaks 
of  itself,  but  of  its  source.  So  the  Holy  Spirit 
reveals  to  us  the  things  of  Christ,  and  speaks  to  us 
of  Him. 


The  Keystone  of  Doctrine. 

The  keystone  of  doctrine  is  the  divinity  of  Christ. 
There  are  various  methods  of  proof.  One  is,  by  an 
induction  of  Scripture  passages,  ascribing  to  Him 
divine  attributes,  titles,  works,  and  relations.  Another 
method  is,  to  take  up  several  leading  doctrines  of 
Scripture,  and  by  expounding  their  necessary  inter¬ 
relations,  to  evolve  the  conclusion  that  Christ  must 
be  God.  This  is,  at  least,  a  valuable  auxiliary 
method,  after  marshalling  your  exegetical  instances, 
and  focalizing  all  the  divine  predicates  of  Christ. 

Deity  and  Divinity. 

These  must  be  distinguished.  Men  often  mean 
very  little  when  they  say  that  the  Bible,  or  Christ, 


THE  HOLY  TRINITY. 


165 

is  ‘divine.”  As  with  the  old  Semi-Arian  distinction 
between  Oeo?  and  6  Oeo^,  they  will  speak  of  the 
abstract  “  divine  ”  yet  deny  the  concrete  God.  The 
controversy  at  Nice,  on  6juo-  and  ojuoi-,  meant  a  great 
deal.  Gibbon  sneers  that  “  the  whole  world  was 
fighting  about  a  mere  iota.”  But  it  was  worth  , 
while.  It  is  a  miserable  thing  when  men  get  so 
broad  and  charitable  as  never  to  have  any  fighting. 
Rather  let  us  have  the  Inquisition  and  a  little 
blood-letting,  than  a  dead  apathy  about  religious  | 
doctrine. 

Unitarian  s  Diffiailty, 

Modern  Unitarians  are  humanitarians.  The  ablest 
man  among  them  is  Martineau,  who  does  good 
service  in  defending  Theism  against  the  like  of 
Arnold,  but  who  regards  Christ,  nevertheless,  as  only 
man.  Unitarians  will  tell  you  that  they  could  take 
the  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity  at  once,  if  you  would 
leave  out  the  Divinity  of  Christ ;  but  they  cannot 
admit  that  God  and  man  can  be  one  person.  Thus, 
if  you  can  prove  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  you  virtually 
establish  the  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  Granted 
the  distinct,  divine  personality  of  the  two  first 
persons,  comparatively  little  additional  evidence  is 
needed  to  complete  the  Trinitarian  doctrine. 

Analogy  for  the  Mystery  of  Christ's  Person. 

Your  body  is  in  a  sense  your  “person ;  ”  but  when 
the  separation  comes,  your  soul  and  not  your  corpse 


i66 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


will  be  your  person.  The  body  shares  meantime  in 
the  personality  of  the  soul,  but  its  separation  and 
dissolution  would  not  destroy  that.  So  with  Christ’s 
humanity.  It  shared  in  the  personality  of  the 
Logos,  but  could  never  by  its  junction,  or  its  separa¬ 
tion,  destroy  the  latter  as  an  individual  personal 
subsistence. 


What  co7istitiites  Personality. 

In  order  to  personality,  there  must  be  intelligence, 
will,  and  individual  subsistence.  Christ’s  humanity 
had  the  first  two,  but  not  the  third,  and  was  not 
therefore  a  person.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  characterized 
by  all  three,  and  therefore  is  a  person.  Must  not 
those  who  impugn  this  admit  that  it  would  be  wild 
talking  to  say,  under  the  baptismal  formula — “  I 
baptize  thee  into  the  name  of  Jehovah,  and  of 
Jehovah’s  Son,  and  of  Jehovah’s  power!  ” 


The  name  Holy  Spirit. 

The  third  person  in  the  Godhead  is  called  the 
Holy  Spirit,  not  because  Himself  more  holy  than 
the  other  persons,  but  because  He  snakes  holy.  He  is 
the  Spirit,  because  breathed  forth,  proceeding  by 
spiration,  from  God.  In  this  sense  of  eternal  spira- 
tion,  the  Spirit,  according  to  the  whole  teaching  of 
Scripture,  as  contrasted  with  the  Greek  Church  view, 
proceeds  equally  from  the  Father  and  the  Son. 


THE  HOLY  TRINITY. 


The  Filioque  Clause. 

At  the  Old  Catholic  Council  in  Bonn,  a  few  years 
ago,  it  was  urged  that  the  phrase  jilioqjie  ('‘pro- 
ceedeth  from  the  Father  and  the  Son  ”)  had  been 
surreptitiously  introduced  into  the  church  doctrine 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  must  be  given  up  by  the 
Western  Church  if  there  was  to  be  a  general  union. 

The  Greek  Church  makes  the  one  verse,  “  the 
Spirit  of  truth  which  proceedeth  from  the  Father” 
(John  XV.  26),  the  basis  of  its  doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Spirit’s  procession.  But  to  balance  a  doctrine  on 
one  text,  is  like  balancing  a  stool  on  one  leg. — It 
must  not  be  overlooked  that  there  are  two  processions 
of  the  Holy  Ghost — (i)  in  His  eternal,  essential 
personality,  and  (2)  in  His  sanctifying,  comforting 
work  among  men ;  and  it  is  of  importance  to 
enquire  which  of  these  is  referred  to  in  any  particular 
verse. 


Revelation  and  Redemption. 

Revelation  is  from  the  Father,  through  the  Son, 
by  the  Spirit.  Redemption  is  to  the  Father,  by  the 
Son,  through  the  Spirit. 


VI. 


SOVEREIGNTY,  FREEWILL,  AND  SALVATION. 

The  Decrees  of  God. 

Here  you  come  to  one  of  the  watersheds  of 
doctrine.  The  question  of  the  decrees  divides 
Evangelical  Christians  into  two  great  camps,  Cal- 
vinistic  and  Arminian,  the  point  of  difference  being  in 
effect  this — as  to  whether  God’s  decrees  are  deter¬ 
mined  by  Himself,  or  by  something  out  of  Himself. 

The  IJyiity  of  God's  Pla7t. 

All  God’s  works  constitute  one  system  ;  all  His 
decrees  one  purpose.  We,  being  finite,  can  grasp 
His  plan  only  very  partially ;  and  we  are  wont  to 
speak  of  His  decrees  in  the  plural.  But  it  was  one 
act  by  which  He,  knowing  all  possible  systems,  chose 
this  one. 


God^s  Natti^'e  logically  aitterior  to  His  Will. 

Chronologically,  there  is  no  before  or  after  in  God ; 
but  logically,  His  nature,  with  its  laws  of  reason  and 
righteousness,  precedes  His  will. 


SOVEREIGNTY,  FREEWILL,  AND  SALVATION.  1 69 


Hoiv  different  Extremists  overlooked  this. 

The  Arminians  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Supra- 
lapsarians  on  the  other,  made  God’s  will  the  origin 
of  right — forgetting  that  it  is  not  the  greatness  of 
God  but  the  quality  of  God,  His  nattire  (of  which 
His  will  is  the  expression),  that  determines  right. 
The  will  of  an  infinite  Beelzebub  would  not  make 
him  the  author  of  right. 

God's  Decrees  rational. 

God’s  decrees  are  eminently  rational.  All  His 
attributes  go  into  them,  just  as  the  whole  human 
soul  is  engaged  in  willing,  or  in  any  other  function. 

A  Cano7i  and  its  Consequence. 

It  is  a  canon,  that  the  first  thing  m  intention  is  the 
last  in  execution.  We  must  know  the  final  end 
before  we  can  rightly  understand  the  process.  Ex¬ 
perience  cannot  reveal  to  us  the  Almighty’s  final 
purpose.  Our  a  priori  intuitions  may  tell  us  some¬ 
thing  of  it ;  but  it  is  to  Scripture  we  must  go. 

The  P  rob  lent  of  the  Wheelbarrow. 

Logically,  the  agent  comes  before  the  act,  but  not 
necessarily  chronologically.  There  was  a  fallacy 
when  the  boy  called  the  wheelbarrow  an  exception. 

Are  God's  Operations  conditioned? 

We  men  start  under  law,  and  have  to  operate  under 
it :  for  instance,  in  establishing  telegraphic  commu¬ 
nication  with  England,  we  had  to  use  means  under 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


I  70 

law.  But  God  creates  the  means,  as  well  as  appoints 
the  end.  The  Unconditioned  can  become  condi¬ 
tioned  only  through  His  own  will.  God,  to  begin 
with,  is  conditioned  simply  by  His  own  Nature  and 
His  inter-personal  relations.  And  though  He  now 
works  according  to  the  laws  of  the  universe,  He  is 
conditioned  by  these  only  as  to  His  operations.  These 
very  laws  are  the  resultant  of  His  will. 

A  Rising  Scale. 

The  movement  of  the  automaton  is  not  self- 
determined  :  that  of  the  fly  is  self-determined,  but 
not  rationally  :  that  of  the  student  is  rationally  self- 
determined  :  that  of  God  is  rationally  self-deter¬ 
mined,  and  free  from  all  ab  extra  influence. 

The  Divine  Right  of  Creation. 

God  had  a  right  to  form  a  moral  system,  and  to 
have  a  holy  universe.  Now,  holiness  is  the  loyalty 
of  a  free  will  toward  Him,  and  necessarily  implies 
the  choice  of  allegiance  or  rebellion.  God  might 
have  determined  to  create  only  those  who,  He  fore¬ 
saw,  would  be  faithful  to  Him  ;  but  He  determined 
to  create  the  others  too,  who  by  their  freewill  would 
sin  against  Him.  God  is  responsible  for  the  acts  of 
His  necessitated  creatures,  but  not  for  the  acts  of 
those  that  have  the  exercise  of  freewill. 

Responsibility  for  Consequences. 

A  free  agent  cannot  be  held  responsible  for  all 
the  consequences  of  his  act.  A  father  may  be  justi- 


SOVEREIGNTY,  FREEWILL,  AND  SALVATION.  I  7  I 

fied  in  putting  his  son  from  the  house  for  the  sake 
of  the  sisters  and  younger  boys,  though  he  knows 
that  son  will  go  to  the  devil.  The  responsibility  of 
the  latter’s  profligacy  does  not  lie  with  the  father. 
When  Abraham  Lincoln  declared  war  to  save  the 
Union,  he  knew  that  crimes  would  follow — many  of 
them  perpetrated  by  the  Union  army  itself.  But  he 
was  not  responsible  for  these. 

Fore-seemg  and  Fore-ordination. 

In  the  case  of  human  beings,  the  fore-seeing  of  a 
consequence  is  not  the  determination  of  a  con¬ 
sequence.  Take  the  case  supposed  above.  A  father 
introduces  a  rule  into  his  family  which  he  regards  as 
needful  for  the  best  good  of  the  whole.  Though  he 
may  foresee  that  it  will  expedite  the  ruin  of  one 
boy  bent  on  going  to  the  bad,  while  it  will  be  the 
saving  of  the  rest,  the  father  cannot  be  said  to  deter¬ 
mine  the  evil  consequence  to  that  boy.  With  God, 
however,  the  case  is  different.  He,  in  the  fore-seeing, 
is  not  placed  in  the  midst  of  things.  He  sees  all 
from  the  beginning,  and  if  He  permits  anything  thus 
foreseen,  what  is  that  but  equivalent  to  its  “  fore¬ 
ordination  ”  } 

The  Theological  Problem  of  Sin. 

The  psychological  problem  of  the  origin  of  evil 
may  so  far  be  solved  ;  but  the  theological  is,  with 
man’s  present  light,  insoluble.  A  priori,  I  would 
expect  that  in  God’s  universe  there  would  be  no  sin. 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


I  72 

A  posteriori^  there  is  sin.  All  that  can  be  said  is — 

\ 

there  is  an  infinite  God,  and  yet  there  is  sin  ;  so  that, 
though  we  cannot  explain  the  permission  of  evil  in 
His  universe,  we  cannot  declare  it  inconsistent  with 
the  perfection  of  any  of  God’s  attributes. 

The  Two  Great  Mysteries  in  Theology, 

These  are — (i)  The  constitution  of  Christ’s  person 
(in  two  natures)  ;  and  (2)  the  concursus  between 
God’s  sovereign  decree  and  man’s  free  will. 

How  imich  depends  07i  the  point  of  view. 

Whoever  emphasizes  God  tends  to  Calvinism  ; 
whoever  emphasizes  man  tends  to  Arminianism. 
Just  as  in  looking  at  the  moon  we  see  the  stars  in 
the  background,  we  see,  in  looking  at  the  Arminian, 
Deism  behind ;  and  he,  looking  at  us  Calvinists, 
sees,  or  thinks  he  sees,  Fatalism  behind  us. 

How  did  God  harden  PharaoJis  heart  ? 

He  withdrew  the  Spirit’s  influence,  and  thus 
allowed  him  to  remain  hard  and  to  grow  still  harder. 

Is  there  snch  a  thing  as  Chalice  ? 

“Chance”  is  a  relation.  The  word  does  mean 
something;  and  it  is,  therefore,  foolish  to  tell  children, 
that  “  there  is  no  such  thing  as  chance.”  It  is  a 
relation  in  which  the  connection  between  cause  and 


SOVEREIGNTY,  FREEWILL,  AND  SALVATION.  I  73 

effect  is  too  subtle  for  our  discovery,  or  too  complex 
for  us  to  calculate.  The  planet’s  motion,  for  instance, 
we  can  reckon  and  predict ;  the  fall  of  dice  we  can¬ 
not,  not  because  the  case  is  too  subtle,  but  because 
the  calculation  is  too  complex.  So,  too,  with  a  pro¬ 
jectile  like  a  cannon  ball, — given  the  direction  and 
quantity  of  force,  we  can  tell  where  it  will  light.  It 
is  different  with  the  fall  of  a  leaf,  owing  to  its 
irregular  shape  and  the  uncertain  impact  of  the  gusts 
of  wind  that  may  carry  it  we  know  not  whither. 
Yet,  in  the  strict  sense,  there  is  as  little  “chance”  in 
the  fall  of  the  dice  as  in  the  course  of  the  planet,  or 
in  the  fall  of  the  leaf  as  in  the  destination  of  the 
cannon  ball.  Chance  is  not  a  thing,  but  a  relation. 
With  God  there  is  no  chance — because  He  knows  all 
forces  and  their  direction. 

Two  Calvinistic  Distinctions. 

There  are  conditional  events ;  but  God’s  purposes 
are  not  conditional. 

God  wills  by  genuine  desire  sometimes  {e.g.^  “  that 
all  men  should  be  saved  ”),  when  not  by  exeeutive 
purpose. 

Are  our  Freewill  Aetions  ^'determined''  ? 

God  does  not  eause  our  free  acts,  but  determines 
their  futurition.  These  are  two  very  different  things. 
I  think — /  feel — /  say;  but  God  determines  my 
action,  without  causing  it.  The  decree  determines 


174 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


everything — causes  nothing.  God  did  not  cause 
man  to  sin  ;  but  He  pre-determined  that  He  would 
sin,  and  yet  created  him. 

What  of  the  Heathen  ? 

The  heathen  are  condemned  and  ought  to  be, 
because,  speaking  of  them  as  a  class,  they  are  born 
rascals.  I  say  it  with  all  reverence,  and  without  a 
desire  of  self-will  in  the  matter,  that  if  these  men 
(and  I  have  been  among  them)  go  to  heaven  as  they 
are,  I  don’t  want  to  go.  Liars,  whore-mongers,  full 
of  all  bestiality — look  at  their  state,  and  say,  where 
are  they  going  You  know  whither  yon  planet  is 
tending,  and  where  it  will  be  next  month ;  and  you 
need  be  in  no  doubt  as  to  where  these  poor  souls, 
left  to  themselves,  will  be  after  death.  Hence  it  is 
poor  reasoning  to  say — don’t  go  on  missions  to  the 
heathen,  because  God  can’t  damn  them  till  they 
have  heard  the  gospel  ! 

Electio}i  works  throngh  the  Will. 

I  tell  my  son  that  if  he  works  well  this  week,  I 
shall  give  him  an  excursion  on  Saturday.  Having 
studied  his  nature,  I  know  that  if  I  leave  him  alone,  ^ 
he  will  slide  along  and  not  work.  But  I  know  how 
to  influence  him,  so  as  to  make  him  voluntarily  work 
well  all  the  week,  and  get  the  holiday  at  the  end  of 
it !  We  find  the  same  principle  in  an  infinitely 
higher  sphere.  Salvation  is  conditioned  on  faith ; 


SOVEREIGNTV,  FREEWILL,  AND  SALVATION.  I  75 

but  it  is  by  God  influencing  some  men  to  believe, 
that  salvation  is  secured  for  them. 

Two  meanings  of  “  WillT 

“  Will  ”  is  sometimes  put  for  the  conative  faculties 
generally;  sometimes  for  the  faculty  of  choosing, 
or  of  self-determination. 

What  is  Volition  ? 

Volition  is  spontaneity  guided  by  reason.  It  is  an 
expression  of  the  freedom  to  will.  This  is  a  very 
different  thing  from  freedom  to  act,  as  many  a  poor 
captive  in  chains  has  known. 

A  moral  Can't  and  Won't. 

All  men  are  under  condemnation.  They  cannot 
believe  because  they  won’t.  It  is  a  moral  (or  im¬ 
moral)  can’t  and  won’t.  The  very  want  of  belief  is 
sin,  and  therefore  furnishes  no  excuse. 

The  Sovereignty  of  God  in  Common  Life. 

It  is  said  that  God  is  “  no  respecter  of  persons.” 
But  the  connection  in  the  epistle  of  James  should  be 
noted.  It  is  true  that  God  does  not  respect  a  shoddy 
aristocracy.  But  He  does  make  differences  among 
men.  Take  the  child  of  a  pious  and  high-born  lady, 
for  instance,  and  the  child  of  an  abandoned  woman 
of  the  street ;  have  these  “  the  same  chance  ”  }  God 


IS  sovereign. 


176 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


The  Order  of  Deerees. 

Sitpralapsarian — Elect  and  damn  ;  create  ;  permit 
fall  ;  send  Christ,  &c. 

Infralapsarian — Create  ;  permit  fall ;  elect ;  send 
Christ,  &c. 

Hypothetical — Create  ;  permit  fall  ;  make  salvation 
possible  to  all  ;  give  efficacious  grace  to  some. 

Arminian — Create  ;  permit  fall  ;  provide  in  Christ 
redemption  for  all  ;  make  result  turn  on  man’s  free¬ 
will  and  co-operation. 

The  Theories  Contrasted. 

The  Infralapsarian  is  the  view  maintained  by 
most  Calvinists.  It  puts  election  before  redemption, 
therein  differing  from  the  Hypothetical  theory,  which 
puts  redemption  before  election,  and  brings  in  effi¬ 
cacious  grace  as  an  after-thought  to  prevent  total 
failure.  In  putting  creation  before  election,  the  Infra¬ 
lapsarian  is  not  open  to  the  objection  applicable  to 
the  Supralapsarian  theory,  that  God  created  some  in 
order  to  damn  them.  The  hypothetical  scheme  (of 
Amyraut,  &c.)  is  the  least  logical  of  all,  though 
Richard  Baxter  in  England,  and  also  the  New  Eng¬ 
land  school,  adopted  it.  It  is  a  middle  ground  that 
cannot  be  held  ;  for  if  God  set  out  with  the  intention 
of  saving  all,  He  would  certainly  have  secured  the 
result.  The  Arminian  doctrine  looks  plausible  at 
certain  points,  but  it  does  not  really  relieve  any  of 
the  difficulties  of  Calvinism  ;  and  it  is  in  the  latter 


SOVEREIGNTY,  FREEWILL,  AND  SALVATION.  I  77 


that  Atheism  in  the  long  run  will  have  to  find  its 
true  antagonist. 

Are  zve  respozisible  for  02ir  state  of  heart  ? 

The  Arminian  says,  A  man  is  responsible  and 
punishable  only  for  his  voluntary  acts  and  states. 
The  Calvinist  says,  A  bad  heart,  no  matter  how  it 
originated,  is  wicked  and  deserving  of  punishment. 
We  are  responsible  for  our  states  as  well  as  our  acts. 


“  GraeeP  a  word  the  Arminiait  should  not  use. 


V 


A  man  spoils  my  grandfather,  and  I  come  into 
the  world  poor  in  consequence.  By-and-bye,  the 
man  comes  to  me  and  refunds.  I  accept  the  pay¬ 
ment,  but  when  he  puts  on  an  air  of  condescension 
and  charity,  and  talks  of  liberality,  I  say — “  Stop  ; 
this  is  not  of  grace,  but  of  debt.”  Now,  Arminians 
say  that  since  God  allowed  Adam  to  propagate  a 
sinful  race,  he  owed  it  to  that  race,  to  give  them 
grace  sufficient  to  be  improved  to  their  salvation. 
What  is  this  but  to  make  salvation  not  of  grace  but 
of  debt  Thus,  whatever  speculative  advantage 
their  system  may  seem  to  have,  it  leads  to  a  virtual 
denial  of  the  doctrine  of  grace.  “  Grace  ”  is  a  word, 
indeed,  that  an  Arminian  should  never  utter — that 
f  is,  while  speaking  as  a  logician  ;  though  happily  in 
their  religious  experiences  Arminians  and  Calvinists 
!  are  often  agreed.* 


*  Dr.  Charles  Hodge  remarked,  or  quoted  the  remark,  one  day  in 
his  class,  that  “  Arminians  usually  pray  like  Calvinists,  and  Calvinists 
frequently  preach  like  Arminians.” 

M 


178 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


Irresistible  Grace,  not  Coercion. 

When  the  wind  beat  upon  the  man  in  Esop,  it 
made  him  only  draw  his  cloak  the  closer  round  him. 
But  when  the  sun  made  him  hot,  he  by  his  own  will 
threw  off  the  cloak,  which  the  storm  without  had  not 
torn  from  him.  You  might  be  got  out  of  this  room 
in  two  ways  :  a  strong  man  might  come  and  thrust 
you  out,  or  a  beautiful  lady  might  invite  and  thereby 
draw  you  !  Now,  it  is  an  utter  misconception  to  sup¬ 
pose  that  by  “  irresistible  grace  ”  is  meant  an  ab  extra 
coercing  influence.  Grace  acts  from  within,  through 
the  will.  The  man  becomes  willing  :  and  so  there  is 
no  resistance  or  desire  to  offer  it.  To  be  “made 
willing  in  the  day  of  God’s  power”  is  the  highest 
liberty. 


VIL 


PROVIDENCE,  ORDINARY  AND  MIRACULOUS. 


What  is  “  Preservation  ”  ? 


HE  Schoolmen  defined  preservation  to  be  “a 


continued  efflux  of  the  vis  creatrix  ”  or  crea¬ 
tive  power  of  God,  We  may  say  that  God  sustains 
things  in  their  essence  and  form.  Thus,  water  is 
hydrogen  and  oxygen  as  to  essence,  while  liquidity 
is  its  form — though  it  may  be  made  gaseous  or  solid 


also. 


A  Heresy  of  fo7iathan  Edwards. 


President  Edwards  was  always  brimming  over 
with  ideas  of  his  own,  which  stood  in  need  of  regu¬ 
lating.  He  sometimes  put  on  paper  suggestions 
that  were  never  really  incorporated  in  his  system, 
and  thus  illustrated  the  truth  of  a  remark  already 
made,  that  though  a  great  genius  he  had  not  a 
thoroughly  educated  mind.  Thus,  in  a  note,  he 
throws  out  the  idea,  that  you  come  into  the  world 
unholy  as  the  punishment  of  Adam’s  sin,  and  this 
because  you  are  Adam  as  much  as  you  are  yourself 
PAr  what,  says  he,  is  identity.^  It  is  just  a  Divine 


i8o 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


constitution,  an  arbitrary  appointment  by  the  will 
of  God.  And,  to  give  colour  to  his  theory,  he  goes 
on  to  argue,  that  every  creature  is  at  every  moment 
the  product  of  a  Divine  volition  ;  that  you  are,  in 
effect,  a  new  being  every  second,  every  infinitesimal 
flash  of  time ;  that  there  is  no  real  causal  connection 
between  what  you  were  yesterday  and  are  to-day, 
any  more  than  between  the  successive  images  of  the 
candle  light  upon  the  mirror.  In  short,  that  God 
makes  you  the  same  with  Adam,  and  therefore  you 
are  rightly  held  responsible  ! 

It  will  be  readily  seen  how  crude  this  theory  is, 
and  how  subversive  of  proper  identity  and  genuine 
responsibility.  But,  as  has  been  said,  it  is  nothing 
more  than  an  ill-thought-out  excrescence  on  the 
system  of  its  eminent  author. 

God's  Working  contrasted  zvith  Man's, 

All  man’s  working  is  from  without  inward  ;  but 
God’s  is  from  within  outward,  and  not  mechanical 
but  vital.  A  quarrier  builds  a  cathedral  by  masses 
from  without,  and  leaves  chips.  God  builds  an  oak 
from  within,  and  leaves  no  chips. 

Conciirsns. 

This  is  the  combination  of  two  causal  factors  to 
produce  one  effect.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that 
God,  who  can  put  His  finger  on  every  spring  of 
man’s  spontaneity,  works,  in  governing,  within  the 
will  of  men,  “  both  to  will  and  to  do.” 


PROVIDENCE,  ORDINARY  AND  MIRACULOUS.  l8l 


John  Stuart  Mill  on  Providence. 

I  have  never  seen  any  providence,”  sneers  Stuart 
Mill.  But  this  is  nothing  wonderful.  I  have  never 
seen  the  world  revolve,  though  I  have  lived  upon  it 
more  than  fifty  years.  The  broad  current  carries 
the  ship  with  it  though  you  do  not  mark  the  track. 
And  the  providence  of  God  encircles  you,  and  your 
vessel,  and  your  ocean  too  ;  and  while  you  may  take 
your  own  little  path  upon  that  ocean,  the  ocean, 
ship,  and  passenger  are  being  made  subservient  to  a 
Higher  Will. 

Is  there  such  a  thing  as  “  Special  Providence  ”  ? 

To  admit  universal  providence  and  deny  special  is 
nonsense.  You  might  as  well  talk  of  a  chain  with¬ 
out  any  links.  People  often  say  in  a  loose  kind  of 
way,  That  seemed  quite  providential !  ”  meaning 
by  it  just,  “very  lucky  for  me!”  But,  supposing 
you  had  not  happened  to  look  round  when  the  pick¬ 
pocket  came  to  close  quarters,  would  that  not  have 
been  providential  too  ?  Providence  is  special, 
because  it  is  universal  ;  and  it  is  universal  because 
it  is  special. 

A  Good  Story  of  Dr  Witherspoon. 

Men  often  talk  absurdity  when  looking  at  truth 
from  a  merely  subjective  point  of  view.  A  man  who 
was  driving  along  a  road  near  Dr  Witherspoon’s  * 

*  Dr  Witherspoon,  from  Paisley,  was  one  of  the  Presidents  of 
Princeton  College,  and  one  of  the  signatories  to  the  Declaration  of 
Independence. 


t82 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


house  was  pitched  out  of  his  vehicle,  but  escaped  un¬ 
scathed.  Hurrying  into  the  Doctor’s  study,  he  told 
his  story  in  an  excited  kind  of  way,  and  ended  with 
the  ejaculation — “Wasn’t  it  a  wonderful  providence!” 
“  Hoot,  man,  that’s  naething  of  a  providence  com¬ 
pared  to  what  I  can  tell  of,”  quietly  remarked  the 
sagacious  old  Scotchman ;  “  I’ve  driven  doon  that 
same  road  for  years  and  years,  and  my  horse  hasna 
been  allowed  even  to  run  off  wi’  me  !  ” 


Leibnitz's  “  Coincidences^ 

Leibnitz  denies  the  connection  between  volition 
and  act.  If  somebody  strikes  you,  and  your  fist 
flies  out  and  knocks  him  down,  is  there  any  con¬ 
nection  between  the  volition  and  the  act }  No,  says 
Leibnitz  ;  so  far  as  you  are  concerned,  it  is  a  pure 
coincidence  I  It  might,  however,  be  difficult  to 
persuade  the  other  man  of  this. 


The  “  Exercise  Scheme!' 

Dr  Emmons  held  the  principle  of  divine  efficiency 
creating  all  the  series  of  exercises  in  the  soul — re¬ 
generation  itself  being  a  mere  change  in  the  series. 
He  was  a  virtual  Pantheist.  Dr  N.  W.  Taylor 
held  the  “  exercise  scheme  ”  in  a  modified  form. 
Professor  Barker  drew  his  argument  from  the 
correlation  of  forces  :  “  All  force  is  one ;  the  only 
force  is  will  ;  all  force  is  God.” 


TROVIDENCE,  ORDINARY  AND  MIRACULOUS.  1 83 

Objections  to  the  Theory  of''  Concursusr 

There  is  a  general  truth  under  the  idea  of  “concur- 
sus,”  viz.,  that  God  co-operates  with  the  creature  in  his 
act  as  a  cause  along  with  him.  But  when  the  doctrine 
is  pressed  to  mean,  that  God  influences  every  creature 
to  act  in  a  special  way,  it  evidently  becomes  open  to 
serious  objection.  Sin,  for  example,  presents  a  great 
difficulty  to  those  who  argue  for  this  kind  of  “  con- 
cursus.”  They  tried  to  get  over  it  by  saying  that 
the  entity  of  the  action  was  assignable  to  God,  and 
the  quality  of  it  to  man.  The  greatest  musician  will 
bring  discord  out  of  an  ill-tuned  fiddle  ;  and  sinners 
are  instruments  out  of  tune.  Two  men  walk  the 
street — one  rhythmically,  the  other  limping.  The 
volition  is  the  same  in  both,  and  so  are  the  streams 
of  nervous  influence  passing  through  the  limbs  from 
the  brain.  The  mind  is  the  author  of  the  step  ;  the 
lame  leg,  of  the  limp.  Such  illustrations  are  in¬ 
genious  and  suggestive  ;  but  the  concursus  doctrine, 
though  sanctioned  by  some  of  the  greatest  names 
in  theology,  and  therefore  not  to  be  pooh-poohed, 
has  to  be  handled  with  great  care,  as  tending  to 
Pantheism  through  the  denial  of  the  real  efficiency 
of  second  causes. 


What  is  a  Miracle  ? 

It  is  “  an  event  in  the  physical  world,  obvious  to 
the  senses  ;  the  immediate  specific  cause  of  which  is 


184 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


the  will  of  God  directly  acting  ;  accompanying  a 
teacher  sent  from  God,  and  designed  as  a  divine  sign 
to  authenticate  his  divine  mission  and  doctrine.” 

Nahire  and  the  Snperyiatural. 

All  admit  that  the  universe  governed  by  natural 
law  is  nature.  Man’s  freewill  is  supernattLral.  There 
is  a  further  distinction  between  man  and  the  super¬ 
human.  And  then  there  is  a  sense  in  which  God 
alone  is  “  ex-lex ;  ”  and  a  distinction  to  be  main¬ 
tained  between  Him  and  the  whole  universe  besides. 

The  Analytic  Method  applied. 

To  understand  what  a  miracle  is,  analyse  one, 
and  so  find  out  its  esse  apart  from  its  dijfere^itice. 
Take,  e.g..,  the  floating  of  the  axe  in  the  Old  Testa¬ 
ment,  which  appears  to  be  one  of  the  simplest  pos¬ 
sible  miracles.  There  can  be  no  higher  natural  law 
making  ordinary  iron  float  in  ordinary  water.  God 
simply  interpolates  among  the  sum  of  existing  forces 
that  which  either  antagonizes  gravity  or  increases 
the  density  of  water,  so  that  the  iron  rises.  Even 
we  can  interpolate  new  causes.  Is  there  any  ante¬ 
cedent  improbability  that  God  should  do  so  1  In 
America  here,  the  natural  laws  of  weather  have  been 
altered  by  man  cutting  down  great  forests  that 
covered  millions  of  acres.  Why  should  not  God 
directly  interpose  a  new  cause  which  will  affect  the 
sum  of  forces  and  produce  a  new  equilibrium  t 


PROVIDENCE,  ORDINARY  AND  MIRACULOUS.  1 85 


A  Fallacy  of  Hume's. 

Hume  says,  We  believe  evidence  because  of  ex¬ 
perience.  That  is  false.  If  you  come  to  my  house, 
my  little  nephews  and  nieces  will  believe  everything 
you  tell  them.  But  I  who  have  had  fifty  years’ 
experience  won’t  believe  the  half! 

Miracles  and  Non-miracles. 

If  it  be  asked  how  we  are  to  know  a  miracle  from 
a  merely  marvellous  event,  it  is  answered — Some 
things  are  indisputably  miracles,  from  (i)  Their  very 
nature.,  e.g.,  the  vivifying  of  a  man  who  had  been 
dead  four  days ;  (2)  Their  circumstances,  e.g.,  un¬ 
lettered  Jews  accomplishing  what  science  with  all 
its  advance  cannot  do  yet;  (3)  Their  lack  of  means, 
e.g.,  a  result  accomplished  through  a  word  ;  (4)  Their 
relations,  e.g.,  as  signs  standing  in  relation  to  a 
system. 

Postulates  which  will  carry  Humes  Conclusion. 

If  there  is  no  God,  and  if  we  have  to  view  so-called 
miracles  as  isolated  events,  then  Hume  is  right ; 
and  no  amount  of  evidence  will  make  me  believe 
that  iron  could  float. 

Sporadic  Miracles  Unreal. 

A  sporadic  miracle  I  would  never  believe.  Though 
old  Dr  John  M‘Lean^'  even  were  to  take  us  all 

*  A  well-known  and  highly  esteemed  veteran  in  Princeton. 


i86 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


down  to  the  graveyard  and  raise  up  a  man  who 
looked  like  Jonathan  Edwards,  it  would  weigh 
nothing  with  me.  A  purposeless,  isolated  miracle 
proves  nothing.  The  miracles  of  Scripture  are  not 
mere  addenda  to  revelation,  but  are  themselves 
media  of  the  communication  of  truth. 


VIII. 


MAN  AS  MAN. 

The  Ol'igm  of  Man. 

The  creation  of  man  comes  under  the  head  of 
miracle.  He  was  not  made  out  of  nothing, 
but  from  existing  matter  as  to  his  body,  by  the 
interpolation  of  a  new  cause. 

Spontaneous  Generation. 

This  theory  found  a  prominent  defender  in 
Bastion  :  and  Crosse  claimed  to  have  produced  a 
plant  by  means  of  an  electric  current.  But  most 
men  of  science  hold  the  old  axiom,  “  omne  vivum 
ex  ovo,”  or,  more  correctly,  “ex  vivo.”  Many  of 
them,  however,  deny  spontaneous  generation,  on 
the  ground  that  spontaneity  does  not  exist  in  the 
universe ;  though  there  is  a  sense  in  which  the 
mouse  is  spontaneous,  that  the  ball  of  yarn  made 
like  it  is  not. 

Mind.,  the  Originator  of  Movement. 

We  cannot  rest  in  the  belief  that  matter  originates 
movement ;  but  soul  can.  The  mere  physicist  vainly 


i88 


BREVIA  TIIEOLOGICA. 


tries  to  show,  that  your  volition  is  just  one  of  the 
sparks  of  electricity  generated  through  your  eating 
so  much  buckwheat,  molasses,  and  butter. 

The  “  rediLctio  ad  ahsiirdtmi  ”  of  Materialism. 

It  is  surely  an  absurdity,  amounting  to  a  total 
denial  of  the  spiritual  side  of  man’s  nature,  to  reduce 
all  consciousness — all  conscience,  all  thought,  all  joy, 
up  to  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost — to  a  mere  molecular 
change,  a  piece  of  physical  mechanics  ! 

Darwin’s  Laws  of  Evolution. 

The  word  “  development  ”  is  a  characteristic  word 
with  men  of  science.  But  it  implies  “  invelopment 
or,  as  Joseph  Cook  expresses  it — “  You  can’t  have  in 
your  evolution  more  than  was  put  into  your  involu¬ 
tion.”  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  laws  pointed  to 
1  by  Darwin  and  Wallace  exist,  and  are  at  work,  with 
beneficial  results  everywhere.  They  are  divinely 
;  appointed  laws,  and  they  explain  very  clearly  the 
I  variations  of  species.  But  they  do  not  afford  even 
j  the  suggestion  of  the  origin  of  species.  These  are 

i 

permanent,  distinct  varieties,  not  shaded  off  into  one 
another.  You  may  have  dogs  greatly  variegated,  or 
cats  ;  but  they  remain  distinct  species. 

Many  Missing  Links  in  Darwinism. 

Besides  the  logical  objection  already  instanced,  it 
may  be  urged  that  Darwinism  makes  matter  do  the 
work  of  mind  ;  that  it  gives  no  account  of  the  origin 


MAN  AS  MAN. 


189 


of  mind  itself ;  that  the  hypothesis  gets  no  further, 
at  best,  than  “it  might  be  so;’'  and  that  it  leaves 
many  missing  links  unaccounted  for.  Its  adherents 
require  infinite  time.  But  time  is  not  itself  a  cause  ; 
it  is  only  the  condition  of  the  operation  of  a  cause 
towards  a  result. 

Does  In  telligence  or  Organization  come  first  ? 

All  religion  demands  that  you  begin  with  intelli¬ 
gence,  and  go  on  to  organization.  But  modern 
theorists  reverse  this.  They  begin  with  organization 
and  rise  toward  intelligence, — through  that  of  the 
tadpole  up  to  Tyndall  himself,  who  may  be  supposed 
to  be  the  nearest  approach  to  God  that  has  yet  been 
made ! 


Two  kmds  of  Evolution. 

When  Christian  people  say,  “  Evolution  means 
Atheism,”  a  distinction  should  be  observed.  If  it  is 
Darwinianism  they  mean,  they  are  right  to  demon¬ 
stration.  But  evolution  in  the  Duke  of  Argyll’s 
Reign  of  Law  sense  may  be  admitted  consistently 
with  Christianity ;  so  that,  when  other  Christian 
people  are  found  saying,  “  Evolution  does  not  mean 
Atheism,”  they  too  may  be  right. 

Darwin  and  Agassiz  at  Opposite  Extremes. 

Darwin  magnified  the  power  of  variation  on  one 
original  germ.  He  emphasized  the  principle  of 
unity. 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


190 

Agassiz  went  to  the  other  extreme.  He  denied 
the  possibility  of  variation,  and  emphasized  fixity  of 
type.  But  this  led  him  to  assert  several  Adams, 
as  explaining  the  Caucasian,  Mongolian,  and  other 
races. 

Thus,  while  we  hail  Agassiz  as  an  ally  against 
Darwin,  we  can  go  only  a  certain  distance  with  him. 
We  see  marvellous  changes  of  variety  going  on  in 
the  world,  both  of  men  and  of  beasts. 

A  Puzzle  for  Dariviniaiis. 

If  there  is  no  change  in  a  thousand  years,  how 
much  will  there  be  in  ten  thousand  }  Hybridism  is 
not  explained  by  Darwin. 

Giiyof s  Characteristics. 

Professor  Guyot  has  three  eminent  qualifications 
that  too  seldom  meet.  He  is  a  man  of  excellent 
literary  education  (having  been  a  professor  of 
history) ;  a  man  of  acknowledged  attainments  in 
science;  and,  withal,  a  humble  believer  in  the  Bible 
as  God’s  revelation. 

Adam  neither  Savage  nor  Civilized. 

Savagism  is  a  process  of  degradation.  Civilization 
is  a  process  of  artificial  education.  But  Adam  was 
put  in  medias  res,  into  the  midst  of  a  process.  He 
was  not  born  with  a  college  diploma,  and  had  none 


MAN  AS  MAN. 


191 


of  the  arts  and  sciences  behind  him.  In  many  things 
he  had  to  get  experience  in  the  same  way  as  an 
infant.  He  knew  many  things,  taught  him  by  God; 
but  he  was  still  a  sort  of  inspired  child. 

Body  versus  Sold. 

The  body  is  constituted,  the  soul  is  created.  The 
Bible  gives  us  both  the  analysis  and  the  synthesis. 

Potence  or  Impotence  ? 

That  incompatible  attributes  cannot  be  predicated 
of  the  same  substance,  we  believe,  not  through  a 
mental  impotency,  but  through  a  mental  potency. 

Scientific  Correlation  no  Novelty. 

The  correlation  of  mental  and  physical  causes  and 
effects,  so  much  insisted  on  by  modern  philosophers, 
is  as  old  as  Adam  and  Eve.  I  am  pretty  sure  that 
Eve  had  blushed  when  Adam  courted  her,  and  that 
she  started  when  the  wild  bulls  around  scared  her. 

The  Body,  part  of  the  Person. 

While  united  to  the  soul,  the  body  is  part  of  the 
person.  If  a  person  strikes  my  body,  then  I  say, 
“  He  struck  me  :  he  committed  a  personal  assault.” 

Trichotomy. 

We  do  not  argue  against  the  Trichotomy  which 
merely  asserts  two  entities,  and  a  third  which  is  the 


192 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


resultant  of  the  union  of  the  two  (as  when  blue  and 
yellow  make  together  green).  But  spirit  and  soul 
are  the  same  thing  in  different  relations.  Angels 
have  spirits,  but  not  souls,  in  common  parlance.  The 
spirit  in  relation  to  a  body  is  soul.  Take  soul  out  of 
body,  and  you  have  ghost  and  corpse. 


IX. 


MAN  AS  SINNER. 

The  Pre-existence  Theory. 

The  theory  of  Origen  about  a  pre-existent  state 
would  explain  original  sin,  if  true.  It  has  had 
the  adherence  in  this  country  of  Edward  Beecher, 
who,  though  overshadowed  in  the  popular  eye  by 
Henry  Ward,  his  brother,  has  more  knowledge  of 
theology  than  the  latter  seems  likely  to  have  after 
he  has  been  in  heaven  for  a  thousand  years  !  But  it 
must  be  observed  about  this  hypothesis — (i)  that 
Scripture  is  silent  about  it ;  (2)  that  Scripture,  in 
teaching  that  sin  is  derived  from  Adam,  is  opposed  to 
it;  and  (3)  that  Consciousness  tells  nothing  whatever 
of  a  previous  state.  Certainly  a  baby  does  not  look 
like  a  scarred  old  warrior  either,  but  like  a  young 
life — very  wicked  often  and  very  cruel,  no  doubt, 
but  hardly  to  be  set  down  as  of  demoniacal  origin  ! 

The  Covenant  with  Adam. 

The  Adamic  covenant  was  not  an  arbitrary  thing, 
but  in  accordance  with  all  analogy.  Our  race  got 

the  best  possible  chance,  in  our  first  parent.  God 

N 


194 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


might  have  kept  Adam  and  his  posterity  in  an 
eternal  state  of  unstable  equilibrium.  But  such  a 
life  on  the  brink  of  a  precipice  would  have  been  a 
kind  of  hell.  Adam,  therefore,  had  a  great  oppor¬ 
tunity  of  securing  blessedness  by  a  right  choice  ; 
and  God  tested  him  as  kindly  and  gently  as  possible. 
Yet  Adam  took  the  ground — “If  you  say  I  shan’t, 
why  then  I  will.”  He  had  no  excuse.  The  fault  was 
certainly  not  God’s.  Adam  decided  his  equilibrium, 
but  in  the  wrong  direction — not  towards  impecca¬ 
bility,  but  toward  sin  and  condemnation. 

A  Slip  of  the  Pen  at  Westminster. 

The  Larger  Catechism,  in  speaking  of  the  Coven¬ 
ant  of  Life,  says  it  was  entered  into,  upon  condition 
of  “personal,  perfect,  and  perpetual  obedience.” 
This  is  a  slip  of  the  pen.  The  terms  would  hardly 
have  suited  us.  God  could  not  have  promised  ever¬ 
lasting  life  as  a  reward  of  “  perpetual  ”  obedience. 
But  man  would  have  been  confirmed  in  holiness  as 
the  reward  of  his  obedience  when  tested. 

The  First  Sacrament. 

Every  Covenant  has  a  Sacrament.  That  with 
Noah  had  the  Rainbow;  that  with  Moses,  the  Pass- 
over;  that  with  New  Testament  believers,  Baptism 
and  the  Lord’s  Supper.  So  the  Covenant  of  Life 
had  as  its  Sacrament  the  Tree,  of  which  God  would 
not  permit  Adam  to  partake  after  he  had  sinned. 


MAN  AS  SINNER. 


195 


Angels  and  Men  contrasted  in  their  Trial. 

In  both  cases  there  was  instable  equilibrium 
morally ;  then  probation  ;  to  be  followed  either  by 
confirmation  or  by  condemnation.  The  angels  had 
right  dispositions  ;  but  they  were  not  at  first  put  in 
a  state  of  stable  equilibrium,  any  more  than  other 
new  created  moral  beings.  They,  too,  were  put  to 
the  test. 

But  there  is  this  contrast,  that  angels  are  pure 
spirits,  while  men  are  spirits  connected  with  a  human 
organisation.  God  had,  of  course,  the  right  to 
create  a  human  race,  making  man  spirit  and  animal 
at  the  same  time,  and  a  race  propagated,  unlike  the 
angels,  by  generation.  And  whereas  angels  were 
severally  tried,  men,  as  a  stirps  or  race,  could  be 
differently  yet  justly  tried,  under  the  most  favour¬ 
able  conditions,  in  their  fontal  head. 

Adam,  not  Eve,  our  Representative. 

It  was  Adam,  not  Eve,  who  stood  as  our  repre¬ 
sentative  ;  though  Dr  Krauth,  in  his  “  Conservative 
Theology  ”  (the  best  book  on  Lutheran  theology  in 
the  English  language),  always  speaks  of  Adam  and 
Eve  as  our  dual  representatives.  It  was  Adam  who 
stood  for  us,  and  Adam’s  first  sin  that  wrought  our 
woe.  It  is  his  apostatizing  act  which  assumed  a 
status  of  rebellion,  that  is  imputed  to  us ;  and 
not  his  sinfulness,  or  his  acts  in  general.  And  it 
is  the  punishableness  {reatus  poenae)  and  not  the 


ig6 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


subjective  stain  (macula)  of  that  act  which  is 
imputed. 


Mediate  Imputatio7i. 

The  distinction  between  Immediate  and  Mediate 
Imputation  was  not  made  till  after  Imputation  was 
denied  by  Placaeus.  It  is  not  a  valid  distinction, 
but  a  mere  lawyer-like  evasion  of  condemnation  on 
the  part  of  Placaeus. 

A  nte-Natal  Forfeiture. 

General  Lee’s  child,  born  during  the  war,  was 
born  in  a  state  of  ante-natal  forfeiture,  because  his 
father  was  a  rebel.  This  analogy  may  throw  some 
light  on  the  question  of  the  relation  of  Adam’s  sin 
to  our  natal  condition,  while  it  is  true  that  God  is 
holy  and  could  not  de  novo  bring  a  creature  into 
existence  sinful  and  prone  to  fall. 

The  Consequenee  of  a  Consequence. 

Men  are  born  under  condemnation  as  a  penal  con¬ 
sequence  of  Adam’s  transgression.  There  are  other 
consequences.  The  damnation  of  hell  is  one  of  these. 
But  I  believe  that  children  dying  in  infancy  escape 
this  for  Christ’s  sake,  and  that  no  one  is  sent  to  hell 
because  of  Adam’s  sin  alone.  Sumner  claimed 
consequential  damages  from  Great  Britain,  holding 
her  responsible  for  the  consequences  of  the  conse¬ 
quences  as  far  as  these  could  be  traced.  Without 


MAN  AS  SINNER. 


197 


going  into  the  merits  of  that  dispute,  we  may  say 
that  the  punishment  of  the  finally  lost  is  the  penal 
consequence  of  their  actual  transgression,  which 
again  is  traceable,  through  original  sin,  to  Adam’s 
transgression. 

The  How  and  the  Why  of  Sinfidness. 

The  question  of  how  is  to  be  distinguished  from 
the  question  of  zvhy  we  are  born  corrupt.  How  is 
sin  transmitted,  or  how  does  the  fact  that  Adam  was 
a  sinner  make  us  sinners  ?  Why,  on  what  principle 
of  justice,  are  children  brought  into  the  world  in  a 
sinful  state }  The  historic  order  in  dealing  with 
such  questions  is — Adam’s  sin,  imputation,  original 
sin  :  and  this  is  the  order  of  treatment  in  the  Syste¬ 
matic  Theology  textbook.  But  in  teaching  a  class, 
it  is  perhaps  better  to  begin  at  the  other  end — 
taking  what  we  are,  and  are  conscious  of  being, 
and  what  the  Scripture  definitely  teaches  as  to  our 
state,  before  considering  how  and  why  we  came  to 
be  what  we  are.  The  New  England  Root  Theory 
of  the  propagation  of  sin  deals  only  with  the  how. 

What  raises  the  question,  Why  ? 

If  there  be  no  person  behind  the  law,  then  the 
question  as  to  how  we  are  born  sinners  is  exhaus¬ 
tive.  But  if  there  is  a  person  behind  it,  then  you 
must  face  the  question  of  why.  The  only  answer 
some  give  is — In  sovereignty.  We  say  rather — In 


tqS  brevia  theologica. 

justice.  The  latter  answer  is  adopted  by  the  Real¬ 
ists,  who  have  their  own  way  of  defending  the  penal 
character  of  our  born  sinfulness.  They  do  not  say 
with  the  Calvinist,  that  such  an  infliction  is  just 
because  all  men  were  represented  by  Adam,  but 
because  “  humanity  ”  was  summed  up  or  embodied 
in  him.  This  is  at  bottom  a  materialistic  theory, 
making  us  all,  in  a  very  literal  sense,  “  chips  of  the 
old  block,”  When  Realism  is  fully  worked  out,  as  by 
Nevin  (one  of  the  ablest  men  America  has  produced), 
it  lands  us  in  virtual  Romanism.  My  conscience  is 
not  touched  by  telling  me  that  I  was  in  Adam  as  to 
my  ;  and  if  it  be  admitted  that  responsibility 

is  in  the  essence  of  it  personal,  then  the  Realistic 
doctrine  cannot  stand.  On  the  question  of  why 
men  are  born  corrupt,  the  different  views  may  be 
tabulated  thus  : — 

Corruption. 


Pre-existent.  Consequent. 


Natural  and  arbitrary.  Penal  and  just. 

(The  Root  Theory.) 


Realistic.  Representative. 

Romeos  viezv  of  Man's  Fall. 

Adam,  according  to  the  Romish  theory,  was  like  a 
pith  man  with  a  little  lead  in  his  head.  His  animal 
nature  of  itself  tended  to  go  against  conscience ; 


MAN  AS  SINNER. 


199 


but  the  dona  superiiaturalia  held  him  straight  for 
a  while.  When  these  were  lost,  he  turned  upside 
down.  The  theory  runs  through  all  the  Romish 
theology.  As  man’s  original  state  was  negative, 
awaiting  supernatural  gift.s,  so  a  child  is  born  like 
new  created  Adam  before  he  was  so  gifted  ;  not 
with  a  moral  bias  to  evil,  but  with  a  languor  result¬ 
ing  from  disease.  He  is  in  a  state  of  unstable 
equilibrium. 


Objections  to  this  view. 

Sin,  they  say,  is  ara^la  ;  righteousness  is  evra^la  ; 
and  the  innate  tendency  of  the  lower  appetites  was 
counteracted  by  the  dona  supernatiiralia^  which,  like 
a  ring  round  refractory  sticks,  kept  them  from  flying 
apart  into  disorder.  If  this  ring  was  once  put  on 
by  God,  how,  it  may  be  asked,  could  it  get  off 
again  }  But,  more  particularly,  it  may  be  objected 
to  Rome’s  doctrine — (i)  That  it  makes  Original 
Righteousness  ab  extra  and  unessential  ;  (2)  that  it 
founds  on  the  Manichsean  idea,  that  sin  is  seated  in 
the  body  ;  and  (3)  that  it  is  really  semi-Pelagian, 
in  accrediting  man  still  with  the  power  of  contrary 
choice,  and  doing  away  with  the  need  of  grace. 

Concupiscence. 

This  word,  like  its  synonym  lusty  has  a  wide  as 
well  as  a  narrow  sense,  and  in  Romish  theology  often 
stands  for  the  disorder  {ara^la)  of  the  whole  nature. 


200 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


A  Complicated  View  of  the  Fall. 

The  Semi-Pelagians  make  the  doctrine  of  the  Fall 
very  complicated.  They  say  that  Adam  was  tried 
and  stood  ;  then  he  was  rewarded  with  the  dona 
snpernaUiralia ;  then  he  was  tried  again,  and  fell. 
This  is,  in  the  first  place,  not  recorded  in  Scripture  ; 
and,  further,  it  immensely  increases  the  psychologi¬ 
cal  difficulty  of  the  case. 

The  Romanists  and  a  Shut  Augustine. 

The  Papists  were  brought  up  to  believe  a  shut 
Augustine ;  when  Augustine  was  opened,  they  did 
not  like  it.  The  dififculty  about  the  Council  of 
Trent  Doctrine  is,  as  to  whether  it  held  the  positive 
element  in  original  sin. 

Judicial  Abandonment. 

Every  creature  depends  upon  God  according  to  its 
nature.  Man  was  created  with  positive  inclination  to 
holiness ;  but  his  highest  life  depended  on  something 
ab  extra :  viz.,  on  communion  with  the  Spirit  of 
God.  The  instant  Adam  sinned,  when  sin  was 
matured  in  his  soul,  he  died.  God  now  creates 
souls  judicially  in  a  state  cut  off  from  the  influences 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Thus  original  sin  is,  negatively, 
a  state  of  life  without  God’s  Spirit.  But  whenever 
the  child  begins  to  act,  the  positive  sinfulness  shows 
itself. 


MAN  AS  SINNER. 


201 


Eternal  Death. 

Adam’s  apostatizing  act  is  imputed  to  men  as  the 
ground  of  punishment  in  spiritual  death.  Then, 
through  this  death  and  corruption  as  medium,  comes 
eternal  death.  Eternal  death  is  thus  mediated 
through  spiritual  death. 

The  Plasticity  of  Human  Nature. 

The  J  ews  by  “  marrying  in  ”  have  so  intensified 
family  characteristics  that,  if  you  had  a  Jewish 
ancestor  sixteen  generations  back,  he  would  cast 
your  countenance.  If  one  Smith  marry  another 
Smith,  and  their  child  marry  a  Jones — why,  don’t 
you  see  that  the  Jones  family  face  hasn’t  a  fair 
chance  in  the  next  generation !  The  plasticity  of 
hurnan  nature  is  illustrated  by  this. 

A  Repulsive  Aspect  of  Traducianism. 

There  are  attractions  in  Traducianism,  such  as  the 
explanation  it  seems  to  offer  of  sinful  and  natural 
dispositions.  But  its  materialistic  aspect  is  repulsive, 
making,  as  it  does,  the  architectonic  principle  of  a 
life  to  lie  not  in  the  soul  but  in  the  body.  May  not 
God  create  individual  souls,  and  yet  make  them  like 
the  parent  ?  or  may  there  not  be  a  soul-propagation 
which  we  cannot  explicate  ?  We  are  by  no  means 
shut  up  to  Traducianism. 

Realism  and  Traducianism  go  together. 

Thomas  Aquinas  was  a  Realist  and  yet  a  Crea¬ 
tionist;  and  there  have  been  Traducian  Nominalists. 


202 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


But  it  seems  to  be  the  only  consistent  position — to 
be  both  Realist  and  Traducianist,  or  else  neither. 
Creationism  has  prevailed  in  Calvinistic  churches 
and  even  in  Roman  Catholic  circles  ;  while  Tradu- 
cianism  has  prevailed  among  Lutherans. 


Hugh  Miller  s  Aphorism  on  Heredity. 

“  The  freewill  of  the  parent  is  the  destiny  of  the 
child.”  This  saying  of  Hugh  Millers  has  many 
applications.  It  has  had  no  fuller  illustration  than 
in  the  issue  of  our  first  parents’  act  of  freewill  in 
sinning  against  God.  Owing  to  that,  God  permits 
us  by  judicial  abandonment  to  be  born  sinners.  He 
is  related  to  us  on  two  planes,  the  providential  and 
the  spiritual ;  and  He  has  but  to  withdraw  from  us 
the  gracious  influence  of  His  Spirit,  and  we  are 
spiritually  dead.  When,  on  the  other  hand,  Christ’s 
righteousness  being  eredited  to  the  elect,  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  restored,  life  and  sanctification  are  the  con¬ 
sequence. 

How  does  Christ  escape  Pollution  ? 

Imputation  of  Adam’s  sin  to  us  causes  pollution 
in  us ;  but  imputation  of  our  sin  to  Christ  causes  no 
pollution  in  Him.  The  reason  is,  that  in  us  it  causes 
withdrawal  of  the  Spirit,  and  consequent  death,  but 
not  in  Christ,  who  was  God-yidea.  For  Adam’s  sin, 
the  souls  of  men  are  put  beyond  the  sphere  of  life. 


MAN  AS  SINNER.  203 

For  Christ’s  righteousness,  His  people  are  brought 
within  that  sphere. 

What  is  Sill  ? 

Sin  is  that  which  does  not  square,  or  homologate, 
whether  in  act  or  in  state,  with  law.  The  Shorter 
Catechism  definition  of  sin  is  better  than  the  King 
James  version  of  i  John  iii.  4,  “  Sin  is  the  trans¬ 
gression  of  the  law.”  Under  ajuapTia  e(TT\v  rj  avojula 
— “  want  of  conformity  ”  either  by  excess  or  defect  is 
certainly  included. 

A  Definition  of  Sin. 

“  Forma  peccati  (the  logical  essence  of  sin)  est  dis- 
convenientia  actus,  habitus,  aut  status  hominis,  cum 
lege  divina.”  Want  of  conformity  may  exist  under 
any  of  these  three  categories—  act,  habit,  state. 

Tivo  Elements  in  Sin. 

Two  things  have  to  be  noted  in  sin — reatuSy  its 
relation  to  punishment ;  and  maculay  its  relation  to 
the  holiness  of  God. 

The  Mystery  of  Evil. 

The  existence  of  physical  evil  would  be  itself  a 
mystery,  were  it  not  for  the  existence  of  moral  evil. 
The  elder  Mill,  reasoning  from  the  amount  of  sin  and 
misery  in  the  world,  attempts  to  attribute  it  to  the 
limitations  of  God.  The  problem  of  evil  is  the  great 
focus  of  doubt,  the  grand  abyss  of  scepticism. 


204 


BREviA  thp:ologica. 


Eudcemonism. 

As  the  blades  of  scissors  coming  together  serve  one 
end,  so,  according  to  the  eudsemonistic  theory,  arch¬ 
angels  and  devils  are  made  by  God  to  work  together, 
though  opposites,  for  the  highest  good. 

The  Mystery  of  Sin  twofold. 

There  is  the  theological  mystery — why  could  God 
have  permitted  it  1  There  is  also  the  psychological 
mystery — how  could  the  first  wrong  volition  originate 
in  the  holy  soul  of  Adam  } 

Pam  in  itself 

Of  itself,  pain  will  tend  to  make  men  only  worse. 
To  make  them  better,  it  needs  to  be  improved  by 
moral  and  spiritual  influences.  This  may  be  very 
simply  shown,  by  merely  pommelling  a  bad  boy. 

Two  Kinds  of  “  Guilt T 

Reatus,  which  is  the  concrete  of  reus  (guilty)  is 
distinguished  into  reatus  culpae  (blameworthiness) 
and  reatus  poense  (liability  to  punishment).  Only 
the  latter  kind  was  predicable  of  Christ,  or  is 
removed  by  Him  from  sinners. 

ImptUation, 

The  word  translated  “  impute  ”  is  Xoyl^ofxai, 
sometimes  also  rendered  “reckon.”  It  means  “to 
charge  to  ”  or  “  accredit  with,”  as  a  ground  for  a 


MAN  AS  SINNER. 


205 


certain  line  of  treatment,  either  something  of  our 
own  or  of  another.  Imputation  must  be  just,  that  is, 
it  must  have  some  sufficient  ground  ;  and  Adam  s 
sin,  though  not  personally,  is  organically  or  repre¬ 
sentatively  ours. 

Three  Views  of  Man's  State  and  Need. 

The  Pelagian  says — Man  is  well,  and  simply  needs 
teaching.  The  Semi-Pelagian  —  Man  is  sick,  and 
needs  medicine.  The  Augustinian — Man  is  dead, 
and  needs  a  new  creation. 

“  Habitus  ”  versus  “  Habit!' 

“  Habitus,”  in  Latin,  signifies  a  condition,  whether 
innate  or  acquired.  “  Habit,”  again,  ordinarily 
means  no  more  than  a  state  or  condition  which  is 
the  result  of  past  action  modifying  the  present  and 
future  action  of  faculties.  This  distinction  in  usage 
should  be  remembered.  Sin,  as  a  kind  of  moral 
scrofula,  is  not  a  change  of  substance  or  faculty,  but, 
in  the  Latin  sense,  of  habitus. 

How  the  character  of  an  act  may  vary. 

A  blow  may  be  unintentional  and  devoid  of  moral 
quality,  e.g.y  from  St  Vitus’  dance ;  intentional,  but 
not  responsible,  e.g.,  that  of  a  maniac ;  intentional 
and  dastardly,  e.g.,  that  of  a  bully ;  intentional  and 
virtuous,  e.g.,  that  of  a  grieved  parent.  The  act 
depends  on  the  volition,  and  the  volition  on  the  in- 


206 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


tention,  and  the  intention  on  the  permanent  disposi¬ 
tion  or  habit.  The  goodness  or  badness  of  the 
volition  rests  on  the  underlying  state. 

Perfectionism. 

If  a  man  claim  perfectionism,  ask  him  whether 
states,  desires,  &c.,  are  of  the  nature  of  sin,  or  merely 
what  he  calls  acts 

The  Fatality  of  O^te  Transgression. 

If  you  are  hanging  from  a  branch  at  the  top  of  a 
precipice,  you  are  “gone”  the  moment  it  snaps,  as 
truly  as  when  you  have  reached  the  bottom. 

What  is  Regeneratmi  ? 

It  is  a  divine  act,  which  changes  the  habitus.  We 
have  free  will  as  much  as  Adam.  But  the  reason 
why  we  cannot  originate  holy  acts  is,  that  our 
habitus  is  wrong. 

Evidence  of  Original  Sin. 

If  dice,  being  thrown  looo  times,  always  turn  up 
sixes,  you  say  the  dice  are  loaded.  So  with  babies. 
They  come  into  the  world  as  thick  as  those  flakes  of 
snow  to-day:  and  they  always  come  “sin  up.”  How 
do  you  explain  it  ?  The  dice  are  loaded. 

Spirituel  and  Spiritual. 

A  spirituel  girl  is  one  who  is  the  reverse  of  animal 
or  fleshly, — whose  body  is  dominated  by  her  spirit. 


MAN  AS  SINNER.  2O7 

A  spiritual  woman  is  one  whose  whole  nature  is 
dominated  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 

Are  men  ever  disinterested? 

If  you  demand  disinterestedness  in  the  sense  of 
gratifying  no  principle  of  one’s  nature,  your  quest  is 
hopeless ;  it  can’t  be  found.  A  missionary  is  dis¬ 
interested,  though  he  is  gratifying  love.  So  was  an 
Italian,  who  led  a  man  into  mortal  sin,  and  then 
stabbed  him,  that  he  might  straightway  go  to  eternal 
damnation.  Disinterested  !  he  sacrificed  himself  for 
hate.  The  truth  is,  that  disinterestedness,  as  it  is 
called,  is  in  itself  neither  good  nor  bad.  Its  quality 
depends  on  its  motive,  and  on  whether  it  terminates 
or  not  on  self.  The  devil  is  as  disinterested  as 
Gabriel ;  but  the  one  is  prompted  by  hate,  and  the 
other  by  love  to  God. 

A  Thirteenth  Century  Methodist. 

Thomas  Aquinas,  in  his  doctrine  of  man’s  salva¬ 
tion,  stood  where  the  Methodist  is  to-day.  He  held 
that  men  need  prevenient  grace,  to  begin  the  move¬ 
ment,  and  that  then  they  can  co-operate. 

The  Scotists. 

They  were  named  from  Duns  Scotus.  You  see 
the  Scotchman  at  the  bottom  of  a  great  deal.  But 
this  one  wasn’t  a  good  Presbyterian  ;  he  was  a  Semi- 
Pelagian. 


2o8 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


A  rminianisin. 

In  the  American  and  temporary  sense,  Arminians 
are  Wesleyans  ;  but  historical  Arminians  (the  Re¬ 
monstrants)  were  very  different.  Arminius  himself 
bears  about  the  same  relation  to  Arminianism  that 
Americanus  Vespuccius  bears  to  America,  a  land 
which  he  did  not  discover.  Arminius  was  a  Pres- 
^terian  and  half  a  Calvinist,  like  Wesley.  The 
supralapsarianism  of  Beza  and  Gomarus  drove  him 
rather  far  the  other  way.  Then  Curcellaeus,  Lim- 
borch,  and  others,  carried  out  the  system,  till  at  length 
it  approached  very  near  to  Socinianism. 

Pelagians  and  Semi- Pelagians. 

The  first  say.  Ability  measures  obligation ;  the 
second.  You  are  responsible  for  self-induced  habits. 

Armmian  Viezv  of  Responsibility. 

Arminians  make  us  responsible  for  our  states,  not 
because  of  their  nature,  but  because  of  their  origin. 
This  would  absolve  all  children  from  sin  of  state. 
They  further  say  that  God  could  not  have  damned 
any  of  Adam’s  descendants  unless  He  had  provided 

gracious  ability,”  with  salvation  through  Christ  and 
the  Spirit. 


An  Analogy  for  Sin  in  Man. 

“  Ole  Bull  ”  is  author  of  the  sound  ;  the  bad  fiddle 
of  the  discord.  But  suppose  he  made  the  fiddle  ;  is 


MAN  AS  SINNER. 


209 


he  not  responsible  for  it  as  well  as  for  the  music  ? 
Ah,  but  it  is  constitutionally  a  good  fiddle,  though 
now  sadly  out  of  tune. 

Negation  versus  Privation. 

A  stone  can’t  see  ;  that  is  negation.  A  dog  can’t 
see  ;  that  is  privation,  because  seeing  belongs  to  its 
nature.  So,  said  Augustine,  sin  in  man  is  a  priva¬ 
tion  ;  it  is  a  moral  defect,  because  he  ought  to  be 
holy  and  to  love  God. 

Moral  versus  Physical  Condition. 

If  a  poltroon  put  out  an  eye  to  avoid  the  con¬ 
scription,  Government  might  punish  him  for  that  act, 
but  has  no  right  to  punish  him  afterwards  for  not 
using  a  faculty  he  does  not  possess.  If  by  neglect 
at  college,  I  am  without  eyes  I  might  and  should 
have  had,  I  was  blameworthy;  but  I  cannot  be 
punished  for  not  using  intellectual  faculties  I  have 
not.  In  the  moral  sphere  it  is  different ;  states 
of  mind  have  character,  however  they  were  brought 
about.  In  failing  to  recognise  this,  the  Arminians 
erred  in  their  half-way  opposition  to  the  Pelagian 
theory — holding  men  responsible  for  only  their  self- 
induced  habits  and  self-produced  acts. 

Kant  and  the  Sum  of  Morality: 

There  is  nothing  harder  for  us  than  to  control  our 

affections.  Now,  the  sum  of  the  law  is,  to  love  God 

O 


2  lO 


BREVIA  TllEOLOGICA. 


with  all  your  heart :  but  you  cannot  love  what  you 
don’t  love  by  a  mere  act  of  will.  Yet  Kant  founds 
on  the  axiom — I  ought :  therefore  I  can. 

Christ  made  Sin — hozv  ? 

It  was  not  the  actus  or  the  habitus,  but  the  status 
of  sin  Christ  took.  He  gives  us  the  status  of  righte¬ 
ousness  by  justification  ;  but  He  also  provides 
for  the  habitus  of  righteousness  in  us,  through 
sanctification  of  the  Spirit,  whereby  we  are  enabled 
to  produce  the  actiis. 

An  Umvarra7itable  Statement. 

If  God  had  not  purposed  to  introduce  redemption, 
I  believe  that  he  zvould  not  have  allowed  Adam’s 
posterity  to  be  born.  But  I  cannot  say  with  the 
Methodists  that  it  would  not  have  h^Qn  just  for  Him 
to  have  done  so.  They  thereby  make  the  sending 
of  salvation  a  matter  of  compensation,  rather  than 
of  free  grace. 


A.  a  Chidstian  :  B.  not — zvhy  ? 

Where  shall  we  seek  the  explanation  of  the  differ¬ 
ence  between  these  two  hearers  of  the  same  Gospel  } 
The  Pelagian  answered — “  A.’s  purpose  was  suffi¬ 
cient  :  he  willed  it,  and  he  became  a  Christian.” 

The  Semi- Pelagian  says — “A.  did  his  best,  and 
God  helped  him.” 


MAN  AS  SINNER. 


2  I  I 


The  Arminian  says — “A.  used  the  gracious  abil¬ 
ity,  the  prevenient  grace,  given  by  God  to  all,  while 
B.  did  not.” 

The  Lutheran  says — “  A.  and  B.  both  needed  pre¬ 
venient  and  co-operating  grace.  Neither  could 
co-operate,  but  either  might  resist.  B.  did  resist, 
while  A.  did  not.  Hence  the  difference.” 

The  Calvinist  says — “  A.  was  regenerated  by  the 
grace  of  Almighty  God.” 

Under  the  Sitrface. 

You  sometimes  see  a  man  struggling  against  his 
surging  passions,  and,  by  the  aid  of  some  one  fixed 
principle,  deep  down,  overcoming  and  going  against 
them  all.  So  have  I  seen  an  iceberg  bearing  along 
in  opposition  to  the  Atlantic  currents.  But  it  did 
not  go  without  a  motive.  Deep  down  was  the  Gulf 
Stream,  quietly  influencing  the  great  mass. 

Personal  Freedom. 

Consciousness  tells  me  that  I  have  the  power  of 
originating  action  ;  and  the  immediate  knowledge 
which  we  have  in  the  intuitions  of  consciousness  is 
the  surest  of  all  evidence. 

“  /  want  to  believe,  but  eaPt." 

It  is  liberty  of  the  man,  not  of  the  will,  that  we 
have  to  keep  clearly  in  view.  A  man  says — “  I 
want  to  come  to  Christ,  but  can’t.”  I  say — “You 


2  I  2 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


don’t  want  to  come  to  Him,  in  the  sense  of  giving 
up  sin,  and  giving  up  yourself  to  Him  ;  else  you  do 
come  to  Him.”  In  a  revival,  an  important  question 
is.  Do  converts  want  to  be  holy }  Do  they  want  the 
“old  man”  in  them  to  be  broken  up  Do  they 
want  God’s  justice  to  be  righted  ?  Or  do  they 
merely  want  a  new  exciting  experience,  and,  look¬ 
ing  beyond  that,  to  escape  hell The  man  I  have 
supposed  does  not,  in  the  full  and  proper  sense, 
“want  to  come.”  The  Bible  declares — “And  ye 
shall  seek  me,  and  find  me,  when  ye  shall  search  for 
me  with  all  your  hearV'  (Jer.  xxix.  13). 


X. 


god’s  law  and  man’s  duty. 

The  Foundation  of  Morals. 

ROTIUS  tried  to  found  morals  on  nature.  He 


VJ  was  a  Christian  ;  but  Kant,  who  followed 
him,  was  a  Deist ;  and  many  who  follow  Kant  are 
philosophical  atheists. 


A  W atershed. 


Does  good  depend  on  the  nature  or  on  the  will  of 
God  }  Here  we  have  the  watershed  of  much  doc¬ 
trine.  Grotius,  and  others,  making  it  depend  on 
God’s  wilh  prepared  the  way  for  the  supralapsarian 
doctrine,  that  God  made  men  in  order  to  damn 
them.  And  further,  if  right  depends  on  mere 
divine  volition,  the  doctrine  of  Atonement  is  de¬ 
stroyed  j  for  if  by  an  act  of  will  God  could  have 
made  it  right  for  sinners  to  get  off  without  any 
penalty  being  attached  to  sin,  then  Christ  would  not 
have  died.  The  will  of  God  is  rightly  taken  as  the 
absolute  and  perfect  rule  for  us.  Yet,  as  a  matter 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


214 

of  analysis,  God’s  own  holiness  precedes  His  will, 
and  is  not  a  product  of  His  volition.  Right  is 
founded  in  the  nature  of  God. 


TJie  Tyranny  of  Crowds. 

A  true  man  must  stand  up  against  crowds  in 
America,  as  they  have  had  in  Europe  to  resist  kings 
and  popes. 


Why  should  the  Lazv  of  the  Land  be  obeyed? 

I  must  not,  for  instance,  poach  in  England,  be¬ 
cause  it  is  the  law  of  the  land  ;  and  I  have  to  obey 
the  law  because  it  conduces  to  the  wellbeing  of  man, 
which  I  am  bound  to  further  by  the  law  of  God. 
Of  course,  if  I  am  convinced  that  a  law  is  not  so 
conducive,  it  is  open  to  me  as  a  loyal  citizen  to 
strive  to  have  it  altered. 

What  Guilt  implies. 

As  liability  to  punishment,  “  guilt  ”  implies  an  ob¬ 
jective  personal  reference  to  an  external  lawgiver. 

What  Circumstances  may  do. 

To  drink  a  glass  of  wine  is  not  wrong  in  itself,  but 
circumstances  may  make  it  sinful.  It  may  be,  e.g.,  a 
stumbling-block  to  others.  Or  it  may  be  done  with 


god’s  law  and  man’s  duty. 


215 


a  wrong  intention,  e.g".,  a  blasphemous  act,  or  a  trea¬ 
sonous  act, — such  as  drinking  to  the  health  of  your 
country’s  enemy. 

Where  ca7i  the  Church  draw  the  Hue  about  Drink  ? 

It  is  quite  true  that  one  man  gets  drunk  with  two 
glasses,  and  that  another  may  drink  a  quart  with 
impunity.  If  it  be  asked.  Ought  not  drinking  to  be 
absolutely  forbidden  to  both  } — the  answer  must  be, 
No,  not  on  Scripture  ground.  I  am  prepared  as  a 
citizen  to  vote  for  a  prohibitory  bill  ;  but  I  am  not 
prepared  to  discipline  every  man  who  drinks  a  glass 
of  wine.  And  why  }  Because  Christ  does  not  for¬ 
bid  drinking.  But  He  does  forbid  getting  drunk  ; 
and,  as  far  as  Church  discipline  is  concerned,  we 
have  to  draw  the  line  just  where  the  Bible  does. 

Distinctions  among  even  Divine  Lazvs. 

The  primary  laws  of  love  and  justice  are  more 
fundamental  than  certain  laws  which  are  based  upon 
them — e.g.y  those  concerned  with  property  and  those 
bearing  on  the  matrimonial  relation.  These  may  be 
waived  by  God,  if  He  sees  meet.  Difficulties  raised 
in  connection  with  the  Old  Testament  account  of 
God’s  procedure  in  regard  to  the  observance  of  such 
appointments,  are  to  be  viewed  in  the  light  of  God’s 
right  to  execute  His  own  law.  If  He  has  a  right  to 
put  a  man  into  hell.  He  has  a  right  to  send  another 
(as  to  Agag)  to  kill  him,  or  (as  to  the  Egyptians)  to 
take  his  property. 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


216 


What  is  my  Duty  ? 

A  man  can  have  only  one  duty  at  any  particular 
moment.  But  it  may  be  difficult  to  know  what  it  is; 
because  different  precepts  may  seem  to  come  in  to¬ 
gether  with  conflicting  claims.  Logic  will  not  solve 
your  problem  in  such  a  case.  The  moral  sense  must 
give  the  decision. 

Right  or  Wrong? 

Questions  of  casuistry  often  arise  as  to  right 
and  wrong.  It  can  never,  of  course,  be  right  to  do 
wrong ;  but  the  question  is,  and  it  is  sometimes  a 
hard  one  to  answer, — what  is  right }  Strategy  in 
war  is  often  untruthful.  It  may  be  your  only  means 
of  self-defence.  Is  it  right  ?  Robbers  assail  your 
house ;  you  hide  your  wife  and  daughters  from 
them  ;  they  demand  from  you  where  they  are ;  you 
mislead  the  robbers,  and  your  people  escape.  Did 
you  sin  }  Had  the  robbers  a  right  to  the  truth  from 
you  ?  Or,  take  an  actual  case.  Dr  Alexander  took 
his  Bible  with  him  into  Rome.  When  the  baggage 
was  examined,  the  Bible  was  detected.  “  Oh,  it’s  a 
dictionary  !  ”  said  the  courier.  Dr  Alexander  did 
not  speak.  He  thereby  connived.  He  kept  his 
Bible.  But  did  he  sin  ? 

Mother  of  God. 

The  phrase  “  Mother  of  God  ”  has  biblical  analogy 
in  the  constructive  phrase  “blood  of  God  ”  (Acts  xx. 


god’s  law  and  man’s  duty.  2  1  7 

28) ;  but  it  has  not  biblical  authority.  It  was  used 
for  a  good  end  at  Ephesus  (431  A.D.),  against  the 
gnostic  deniers  of  Christ’s  divinity.  But  it  is  not  a 
phrase  that  it  is  advisable  for  us  to  use. 

The  taking  of  Oaths. 

In  the  case  of  oaths,  it  is  the  animus  imponentis 
(intention  of  the  imposer)  that  governs.  The  im- 
poser  is  the  interpreter ;  and  to  take  the  verbal  oath 
in  a  different  sense  is  to  deceive. 

The  Essence  of  the  Sabbath. 

That  a  regular  portion  of  time,  appointed  by  God, 
to  be  observed  by  all  men,  should  be  set  apart  for 
rest  and  the  worship  of  God, — this  is  the  essence  of 
the  Sabbath ;  that  one-seventh  of  time  should  be  so 
set  apart  is,  relatively  to  this,  the  accident.  It  is, 
however,  the  case  that  one-seventh  of  time  has  been 
positively  set  apart  by  God  for  a  Sabbath,  and  a 
particular  one-seventh  of  time.  The  choice  has  not 
been  left  to  us. 

Duration  and  Extent  of  the  Sabbath  Law. 

“  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy,”  is 
as  much  a  moral  law  as  “  Thou  shalt  not  steal  ” — the 
law  founded  on  the  relations  of  property.  Its  dura¬ 
tion  and  extent  are  determined  by  the  character 
of  the  institution  and  the  abiding  reason  for  it; 
and  also  by  Scripture,  in  the  New  Testament  portion 
of  which  its  permanence  is  incidentally  recognised, 


2i8 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


though  there  is  no  specific  re-establishment  of  it,  any 
more  than  of  infant  church  membership. 

The  Lord's  Day  and  the  Sabbath  the  same. 

Our  “  Lord’s  Day”  and  the  Jewish  “  Sabbath”  are 
not  different  in  essence.  Both  are  days  of  rest  and 
festival,  not  of  gloom.  The  essence  of  the  Sabbath 
could  not  be  changed  without  changing  the  nature 
of  man.  But  the  accidents  of  it  may  be  changed  by 
competent  authority,  and  were  actually  changed  by 
the  college  of  Apostles,  for  a  sufficient  reason. 

The  Change  of  Day. 

The  stream  of  Sabbath  observance  on  the  seventh 
day  of  the  week  came  right  down  to  the  time  of  the 
Apostles  ;  it  took  a  bend  at  that  point ;  and  it  has 
come  right  on  ever  after.  Only  they  could  have 
altered  it ;  the  authority  of  no  other  would  have 
wrought  such  an  universal  change  in  the  Christian 
world.  The  adequate  reason  for  the  change  was, 
the  celebration  of  the  Resurrection  of  Christ  and 
the  new  creation  it  secured.  The  competent  authority 
was  that  of  the  Apostles,  and  no  other.  (The  trouble 
with  the  hierarchical  bishops  now  is,  that  they  are 
all  Apostles,  though  they  have  not  seen  the  Lord — 
not  a  soul  of  them  !) 

American  Law  related  to  English. 

We  grew  as  a  nation  out  of  England,  and  thus 
have  laws  based  on  religion  and  morality.  We  have 


god’s  law  and  man’s  duty.  219 

our  own  peculiarities,  however,  in  certain  of  which 
our  friends  there  seem  disposed  to  imitate  us, — and, 
some  of  them,  to  imitate  us  to  their  destruction. 

The  Right  of  Religious  Legislation. 

We  have  a  right  to  administer  the  laws  here  re¬ 
ligiously.  Who  cheated  the  Indians  out  of  their 
land  }  Have  not  we  then  the  right  to  the  advan¬ 
tages  }  If  foreigners  come,  they  must  obey  the  law 
of  the  land.  They  may  go  to  the  moon  or  the 
depths  of  the  sea  if  they  like.  But  if  they  come 
here,  they  must  be  Christians  or  get  killed.  I  would 
give  Atheists  the  Sabbath,  or  the  alternative  of  cold 
steel  or  hot  lead — either!  When  I  was  in  India, 
Hindu  boys  (I  call  them  boys,  though  they  might 
be  fathers  *  or  grandfathers  ;  you  could  never  tell 
that  there)  would  sometimes  be  obstreperous  in 
school.  If  they  demanded  liberty  to  disobey,  I  told 
them — “  Certainly  ;  but  outside  the  school.  If  you 
come  in  here,  you  must  obey  or  get  flogged.” 

A  Non-moral  Goveinwient  Impossible. 

It  is  coming  in  this  country  to  blood.  Men  of  my 
age  won’t  perhaps  live  to  see  it.  But  it  is  coming. 
A  government  can’t  be  non-moral.  It  must  be 
either  moral  or  immoral. 

*  Dr  Hodge  took  one  of  his  young  Indian  pupils  to  task  for 
absence  from  school  one  day,  and  to  his  surprise  was  met  with  the 
well-founded  excuse  that,  his  wife  being  ill,  he  had  been  needed  that 
day  at  home  to  mind  the  baby  ! 


220 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


Religion  cannot  be  ignored. 

Men  are  religious  beings.  Religion  can’t  be  got 
rid  of  by  seeking  to  ignore  it.  A  man,  after  taking 
some  liquor  perhaps,  may  go  hopping  round  and  de¬ 
claring — “  I’ll  have  no  gravity ;  ”  but  he  need  not 
expect  to  get  rid  so  of  the  laws  of  gravitation.  As 
little  need  our  legislators  attempt  to  put  away  re¬ 
ligion.  We  have  a  right  to  insist  that  they  shall  not 
try.  I  would  not  consent  to  be  hanged  by  a  jury 
with  an  Atheist  sitting  in  it.  It  would  be  much  more 
comfortable  to  be  hanged  by  a  jury  of  good  Pres¬ 
byterians  ! 

Religions  Educatiofi. 

The  theory  of  many  here  is,  that  the  State  is  to 
have  no  religion.  Yet  it  is  to  be  the  great  educator. 
Hence  education  is  to  be  divorced  from  religion. 
So  far  as  religion  is  concerned,  the  family  and  the 
Sabbath-school  are  to  do  it  all.  But  is  this  enough  ? 
A  father  is  out  all  day,  and  comes  home  tired  at 
night ;  the  mother  is  dragged  to  pieces  by  babies ; 
how  much  are  they  likely  to  do  for  religious  educa¬ 
tion  ?  And  how  many  of  the  children  go  to  Sabbath- 
school  ;  and  how  efficient  is  the  education  provided 
there  ?  I  have  been  twenty-five  years  a  pastor — in 
three  States  and  four  congregations — and  although 
there  are  no  doubt  exceptions,  and  many  excellent 
schools  throughout  the  country,  my  experience  has 
been  that  the  pupils  are  in  general  small  children, 


god’s  law  and  man’s  duty. 


22  1 


and  the  teachers  biggish  boys  and  girls,  too  big  to 
learn,  and  set  to  teach  those  who  are  often  too  little 
to  learn. 

Non-religious  Education  Impossible. 

The  deeper  objection  to  so-called  secular  educa¬ 
tion  is,  that  the  relation  between  our  religion  and 
all  our  other  knowledge  is  vital  and  organic — not 
mechanical.  You  cannot  separate  them,  like  bread 
and  butter ;  it  can’t  be  done.  Could  you  teach 
history — the  history,  say,  of  England,  and  specially 
of  Scotland,  the  land  of  the  Covenanters,  and  leave 
religion  out  of  account.^  Take  a  school  board  with 
men  of  all  shades  of  non-religionist  opinion,  and  let 
them  carve  out  of  your  teaching  system  what  didn’t 
suit  them — and  what  would  be  the  result }  It  would 
be  a  worse  case  than  that  of  Esop’s  man  with  the  two 
wives,  who  relieved  him  of  all  his  locks, — not  only 
bald  non-religion,  but  irreligio7i  would  be  the  result. 

National  Religion. 

The  proposal  of  a  non-religious  basis  is  something 
novel,  not  found  anywhere  in  the  experience  of  the 
past.  To  carry  the  theory  out,  the  language  itself 
will  have  to  be  revolutionised,  and  the  dictionary 
itself  expurgated ;  for  its  terminology  as  well  as  that 
of  the  law  of  England  is  full  of  religion.  And  is  it 
not  a  significant  fact,  that  in  our  great  American 
encyclopaedia  there  is  no  article  on  the  word  “  God  ” 
If  you  ask  how  far  I  would  advocate  religious  train- 


222 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


ing,  I  reply,  that  the  best  practical  system  I  have 
known  was  the  old  Scottish  parochial  system,  though 
it  is  to  be  feared  that,  instead  of  getting  back  to 
that,  things,  as  with  the  New  England  schools,  are 
going  in  the  opposite  direction.  Christianity  should 
be  recognized  publicly  by  this  country.  Christ 
should  be  recognized  in  the  law  of  our  land,  as  the 
supreme  ruler  of  our  nation.  I  am  member  of  a 
society  striving  for  this  end  ;  and  the  principle  is 
right,  whatever  our  success  may  be.  We  should 
insist  that  if  the  State  has  a  right  to  educate,  she 
must  not  educate  in  infidel  history  and  philology, 
but,  in  assuming  the  educator’s  function,  must  obey 
the  Scripture  injunction  regarding  that  function — to 
train  the  young  “in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of 
the  Lord.’’ 

Atheism  Worse  than  Popery. 

Religion  is  what  keeps  a  nation  from  chaos — from 
falling  asunder  like  uncemented  sand.  Dr  H.  of 
New  York  was  deploring  in  my  father’s  house  last 
night  the  influence  of  Roman  Catholics  on  educa¬ 
tion.  But — much  as  I  dislike  Popery — I  would 
infinitely  rather  see  the  education  of  our  children 
in  the  hands  of  Romanists  than  in  the  hands  of 
Atheists. 

Capital  Punishment. 

Is  it  right  to  hang  people  1  Yes  ;  you  have  either 
to  hang  or  be  hanged. 


god’s  law  and  man’s  duty.  223 
Celibacy  and  Matrimony. 

Both  married  and  unmarried  missionaries  are 
needed.  The  latter  have  certain  advantages, 
especially  in  certain  places.  But  ladies  are  needed  to 
teach  women  ;  and  it  is  well  to  show  the  Hindus  speci¬ 
mens  of  pure  family  life.  Celibacy  is  not  in  itself  a 
virtue  ;  and  matrimony  is  not  essential  to  salvation  ! 

Why  Ronid s  Priests  do  7iot  marry. 

Hierarchical  reasons  stand  in  the  way  of  Romish 
priests  marrying.  For  instance,  when  the  Pope  issues 
a  summons  for  a  General  Council,  about  nine-tenths 
of  the  bishops  can  assemble  from  all  quarters  of  the 
earth,  which  they  could  not  do  if  they  were  married 
men  surrounded  with  family  cares.  So  with  all  the 
errands  on  which  priestly  emissaries  have  to  be  sent. 

How  Rome  Dissolves  the  Marriage  Tie. 

Romanists  get  no  divorces  ;  but  they  often  get 
marriage  decreed  null  ab  initio,  on  many  and  various 
pleas.  I  knew  a  professor  out  west,  who  grew  tired 
of  his  wife.  He  could  not  get  a  divorce  as  a 
Protestant  Christian.  So  he  turned  Roman  Catholic, 
got  his  marriage  annulled,  and  all  his  children 
decreed  bastard.  Then  he  married  again  ;  and  by- 
and-bye  he  turned  Presbyterian  ! 

Why  Russian  Priests  Wives  Live  so  Long. 

Russian  priests  are  allowed  to  marry  once,  but 
only  once ;  and  it  is  observed  that  no  women  live  so 


224 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


long]]as  the  wives  of  Russian  priests.  A  man  was 
seen  one  day  washing  clothes  ;  and  another  who 
thought  his  appearance  hardly  in  keeping  with  such 
an  occupation,  asked  him  why  he  should  be  washing 
clothes  }  “  Well,  you  see,”  he  answered,  “  Fm  a 

priest,  and  we  are  never  allowed  to  marry  a  second 
time  ;  so  when  we  have  a  wife  we  do  everything  to 
keep  her  as  long  as  we  can  !  ” 

Can  the  State  dissolve  Matrimony  ? 

The  State  can  as  little  by  its  fiat  dissolve  the 
vinculum  of  marriage  as  it  can  dissolve  that  of 
parentage.  Its  decree  would  be  just  like  the  decree 
of  the  Pope  against  the  comet. 

A  meric  an  sentiment  about  Divorce. 

In  the  United  States,  the  thirteen  old  States  — 
especially  Episcopalian  States  like  Virginia — which 
brought  over  English  law,  are  stricter  on  this  subject 
than  some  of  the  other  States  are.  Public  opinion 
is  wofully  lax  in  some  parts  certainly,  while  in 
others  it  is  sufficiently  strong.  Death  alone  ipso 
facto  dissolves  the  marriage  tie.  Adultery  does  not, 
until  it  is  proved ;  and  for  desertion  to  justify 
divorce,  it  must  be  wilful,  and  final,  and  without 
just  cause. 


Evil  Company. 

You  may  have  to  do  business  with  a  man  who  is 
leading  an  immoral  life.  But  you  are  not  to  have 


god’s  law  and  man’s  duty. 


225 


friendly  social  relations  with  him,  or  to  introduce 
him  to  your  family. 

Need  of  a  Marriage  License  Law, 

In  America  we  ought  to  have  the  State  made 
responsible,  through  the  establishment  of  a  marriage 
license  law,  for  proper  registration.  In  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  a  minister  who  may  happen  to  marry  a  minor 
is  liable  to  a  fine  of  .^50 — a  law  which  was  intended 
to  prevent  the  abduction  of  young  girls.  All  sorts 
of  people  used  to  come  to  me  at  Wilkesbarre  to  get 
married.  Sometimes  I  knew  from  the  look  of  the 
girl  that  I  was  safe ;  but  I  frequently  had  to  refuse 
to  marry  the  applicants,  because  I  had  no  means  of 

protecting  myself.  An  old  minister.  Dr - ,  was 

less  careful.  In  course  of  time  his  conscience  had 
got  so  far  seared  that,  when  knocked  up  in  the 
morning,  he  would  put  his  head  and  night-cap  out  of 
the  window  and  marry  the  folks  right  off  in  the 
carriage,  without  even  knowing  whether  they  were 
old  or  young,  married  or  single.  Such  a  thing  as 
that  ought  to  be  prevented. 

A  pecidiar  Qiiestion, 

If  God  allowed  the  Patriarchs  a  dispensation  of 
toleration  for  polygamy,  might  not  those  heathen 
who,  in  ignorance  but  in  good  faith,  have  married 
several  women  be  similarly  tolerated  }  Or,  when 

the  husband  is  converted  to  Christianity,  are  all  the 

V 


226 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


poor  women  but  one  to  be  set  adrift  ?  This  is  a 
difficult  problem. 

The  Deceased  Wife's  Sister. 

The  Bible  is  our  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 
Every  sin  is  forbidden  in  it.  Now,  incest  is  a 
heinous  sin  as  even  nature  teaches,  and  must  be 
forbidden  in  Scripture.  Yet  it  is  nowhere  forbidden, 
if  not  in  this  Levitical  law.  We  find  that  the 
eighteenth  chapter  of  Leviticus  condemns,  without 
discrimination  between  affinity  and  consanguinity, 
marriages  within  certain  degrees  of  relationship. 
The  Deceased  Wife’s  Sister  law  is  permanent,  if 
its  ground  is  permanent. 

The  Safety  of  Society. 

The  only  thing  that  can  save  Society  is  the 
recognition  that  it  is  to  be  founded  on  the  will  of 
God,  and  that  all  authority  comes  from  above 
downward,  and  not  from  below  upward.  If  in  this 
country  of  universal  suffrage  we  do  not  emphasize 
great  principles  of  duty,  we  are  going  to  perdition. 
Here,  more  than  in  any  other  land  ;  now,  more  than 
at  any  other  time,  we  need  to  remember  this. 

A  Question  of  Casuistiy. 

If  a  man  has  a  right  to  the  truth  from  me,  I  must 
give’him  the  truth.  If  he  has  no  right  to  it,  I  may, 
and  usually  should,  hold  my  tongue.  But  if  I  am 


god’s  law  and  man’s  duty. 


227 


compelled  to  speak,  and  if  the  communication  of 
facts  to  a  person  who  is  ex-lex  will  enable  him  to 
use  his  knowledge  to  the  ruin,  let  us  say,  of  my 
wife  and  child — may  I  intentionally  mislead  him 
without  sin  ? 


Bragging. 

A  form  of  lying  we  have  not  discussed  as  yet  is 
bragging.  I  knew  an  old  gentleman  so  given  to  it, 
that  he  would  talk  incessantly  about  the  wonders  he 
and  his  family  had  done,  and  try  to  make  out  that 
every  great  machine  and  new  improvement  had  been 
invented  by  himself  I  would  sometimes  have  to 
sit  two  hours  listening  to  his  voluble  talk,  without 
believing  one  word  of  it ! 


Mistaken  Kindness. 

A  criminal  is  sent  to  the  penitentiary.  You  begin 
to  coddle  him  ;  you  want  to  know  if  he  has  a  sore 
throat ;  you  send  the  doctor ;  you  take  him  by  the 
hand,  and  say,  “  My  dear  brother ;  ”  you  try,  as  you 
say,  to  save  his  self-respect ;  and  you  send  the  chap¬ 
lain  to  discuss  all  sorts  of  questions  with  him  as  an 
equal.  What  is  this  but  sapping  the  foundations 
of  society  t  The  design  of  penitentiaries  is  not 
primarily  reformatory,  but  punitive  ;  and,  as  God 
teaches  us  by  example  and  precept,  crime  must  be 
dealt  with  as  a  tremendous  evil. 


228 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


Exemplary  Killing. 

It  is  murder  to  kill  a  man  for  the  benefit  of  his 
fellow-men — that  is,  not  as  a  deserved  punishment  to 
him,  but  as  a  warning  to  others.  As  Coleridge  says, 
“  A  man  is  an  end  in  himself,  and  not  like  the  things 
around  him.” 


Three  Views  of  S uffering. 

Suffering  to  satisfy  justice  is  punishment.  Suffer¬ 
ing  to  improve  the  sufferer  is  chastisement.  Suffering 
without  any  such  design  is  calamity. 


XL 


DEATH  AND  AFTER  DEATH. 


What  is  Life  ? 


IFE  is  the  result  of  the  action  of  a  higher  on  a 


J— '  lower  agency.  Animal  soul  acting  on  animal 
organization  gives  animal  life.  Spiritual  life  is  the 
resultant  of  God’s  Spirit’s  action  on  our  souls  {cf^ 
Dr.  John  Brown  of  Edinburgh).  The  process  of 
death  is  initiated  apparently  on  the  side  of  the 
body,  very  often  through  miasma  which  produces"  a 
lesion  inconsistent  with  the  proper  action  of  the 
system. 


What  is  Death  ? 


Death,  in  the  colloquial  sense,  is  the  dissolution 
between  soul  and  body.  There  is  no  evidence  that 
it  means  cessation  of  being,  as  Annihilationists 
affirm.  Even  the  body  does  not  cease  to  be.  It  is 
a  mere  separation. 

Spirit^  and  Soul,  and  Ghost. 

How  does  a  spirit  become  a  soul }  By  personal 
union  with  a  body.  Hence  angels  are  never  souls. 


230 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


What  is  a  ghost  ?  A  spirit  which  has  been  a  soul : 
an  unclothed  soul.  Both  the  creation  and  the  dis¬ 
solution  of  man — the  synthetic  and  analytic  methods 
— may  be  called  in  to  prove  that  man’s  soul  is  the 
resultant  of  union  between  spirit  and  body. 

Has  a  Dog  a  Soul  ? 

It  has,  in  a  sense  :  for  when  it  dies,  “the  spirit  of 
the  beast  goeth  downward  to  the  earth”  (Eccles.  iii. 
2i).  We  have  no  ground  for  affirming  that  it  still 
lives  on  after  dissolution.  But  this  we  do  know  of 
man's  soul,  from  Revelation. 

The  Soul  after  Death. 

The  theory  of  Isaac  Taylor  is  substantially  this  : — 
When  a  man  is  dressed  for  company,  he  has  on  both 
coat  and  vest.  At  death  he  puts  off  the  former,  and 
goes  in  his  vest  and  sleeves  for  a  time.  By-and-bye, 
he  returns  to  his  coat,  which,  in  the  meantime,  has 
been  fixed  up  for  him,  Joseph  Cook’s  doctrine  may 
be  compared  with  Swedenborg’s  idea  of  a  double 
body,  an  inner  and  outer  coating.  Archbishop 
Whately  gave  both  sides  of  the  question  as  to  the 
soul’s  continued  consciousness  after  death,  and  de¬ 
clared  it  a  balanced  controversy,  a  drawn  game.  He 
was  a  broad  churchman,  but  a  good  man — on  the 
salvable  side  of  that  party.  He  held  that  the  dead 
body  could  not  be  said  to  sleep  any  more  than  a 
stone,  so  that  the  reference  in  this  expression — 


DEATH  AND  AFTER  DEATH. 


231 


“  sleep  ” — must  be  to  the  soul.  But  it  should  not 
be  forgotten,  that  language  is  not  used  in  such  cir¬ 
cumstances  to  chop  logic  upon,  but  is  based  upon 
phenomena.  And  nothing  is  so  like  death  as  sleep. 

How  is  the  Sold  made  fit  for  Heaven  ? 

Perfectionists  say  that  the  soul  is  made  fit  in  this 
life  for  heaven,  and  that  the  perfecting  work  may  be 
done  early,  through  the  believer’s  act  of  faith  in  Christ. 
Romanists,  again,  postpone  the  completion  of  the 
work,  in  the  case  of  all,  till  after  death  ;  and  hence 
they  provide  purgatory  for  good  Catholics.  We  say 
that,  though  there  is  nothing  in  death  itself  that 
sanctifies,  Christians  are  at  death  made  perfect  in 
holiness  by  Divine  and  gracious  power.  .  Without 
such  a  provision,  what  would  become  of  Christians’ 
who  are  hardly  fit  to  go  to  prayer  meeting  on  earth, 
not  to  speak  of  being  fit  to  enter  Heaven  ! 

Annihilationism  and  Restorationism. 

If  you  do  not  take  the  Bible  doctrine  of  eternal 
punishment,  the  only  alternative  at  all  defensible  is 
Annihilationism.  It  is  of  the  essence  of  Christianity 
in  all  its  forms,  that  Divine  favour  produces  man’s 
goodness,  and  not  vice  versa.  Punishment  won’t 
make  a  man  better ;  he  will  go  on  getting  worse 
and  worse  in  hell.  Here  lies  the  absurdity  of 
Restorationism. 


232 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


A  nnihilatiouism  explained. 

Annihilationists  mean,  not  that  you  must  be  put 
absolutely  out  of  existence,  but  resolved,  rather,  into 
your  constituents.  The  bubble  bursts  and  vanishes 
in  air.  Yon  cease  to  be  ;  but,  strictly  speaking,  you 
are  not  annihilated.  You  are  just,  in  Hindu  lan¬ 
guage,  “  absorbed  in  Brum.” 

Spirits  not  mntually  exclusive. 

The  scholastics  gravely  argued  —  “  How  many 
spirits  can  stand  together  on  a  needle  point }  ”  The 
correct  answer  was — An  infinite  number,  because 
spirits  do  not  exclude  each  other. 

Hell  and  Heaven. 

It  is  the  presence  of  God  as  unreconciled  that 
constitutes  hell ;  it  is  the  presence  of  God,  as  recon¬ 
ciled  in  Christ,  that  makes  heaven. 

Is  Heaven  a  Place  ? 

If  men  were  only  spirits,  heaven  and  hell  might 
occupy  the  same  square  space.  Souls  do  not  fill 
space.  The  crw/xa, .  however,  which  is  organized 
matter,  does.  The  bodies  of  believers  will  be 
numerically,  though  not  qualitatively,  the  same  in 
heaven.  In  exchange  for  the  animal  body  {<jwixa 
x/y-yXirov),  the  believer  is  to  have  a  spiritual  body 
{ar^jULa  iruevixariKov).  You  are  not  going  to  heaven 


DEATH  AND  AFTER  DEATH. 


233 


as  an  animal  with  vertebrate  column  and  digestive 
organs.  But  you  will  have  a  body,  nevertheless, 
which,  after  the  resurrection,  will  occupy  space. 
Heaven  is  a  place  as  well  as  a  state.  Whete  Christ 
in  his  glorified  body  is — that  is  Heaven. 

Christ  desce^iding  hito  Hades. 

The  phrase,  “  He  descended  into  Hades,”  should 
be  left  as  it  is.  Do  not  try  to  translate  it ;  but  do 
not  leave  it  out.  It  is  no  interpolation,  but  is  part 
of  the  consensus  of  Church  doctrine  which  grew  by 
assimilation.  For  persons  in  New  Jersey  or  any 
part  of  this  Yankee  nation  to  cut  it  out  would  be 
infinitely  absurd.  I  would  sooner  shoot  or  hang  a 
man  for  that  than  for  counterfeiting ;  and,  if  I  had 
the  power,  wouldn’t  I  do  it  quick ! 

The  Limbus  Infantitm. 

The  doctrine  of  the  limbus  infantum  has  no  ground 
in  Scripture.  We  believe  that  infants  go  to  heaven 
through  the  mercy  of  Christ.  If  they  did  go  to 
Hades  with  Original  Sin  on  them,  since  we  are  not 
to  suppose  that  they  remain  infants  eternally,  they 
would  go  on  developing  in  wickedness,  and  so 
deserve  damnation  personally,  like  adults,  through 
actual  transgression. 

Infant  Salvation. 

Concerning  the  phrase  “  elect  infants  ”  in  the 
Westminster  Confession,  Dr  Krauth  thinks  he  shows 


234 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


that  the  original  framers  of  the  Confession  meant 
that  some  are  not  elect.  There  is  another  and  more 
important  question — What  does  it  and  should  it 
mean  ?  The  answer  to  this  is — that  all  infants 
dying  in  infancy  are  saved,  and  because  they  are  elect. 
The  phrase  should  be  interpreted  as  referring,  not 
to  the  extent  of  infant  salvation  but  to  the  nature 
of  their  security,  to  the  ground  of  their  salvation. 
The  Arminian  view  is,  that  infants  are  somehow 
saved  on  their  own  account.  The  Calvinistic,  that, 
though  they  have  incurred  condemnation  in  Adam, 
they  are  saved  through  the  redemption  of  Christ. 
The  Romanist,  that  the  salvation  of  Christ  is  not 
applied  to  children  except  through  baptism. 

The  Heathen. 

The  whole  world  has  received  certain  benefits 
through  Christ’s  death  ;  but  the  heathen  who  do  not 
know  the  gospel  are  just  left,  so  far  forth  as  their 
eternal  salvation  is  concerned,  where  they  were 
before,  and  would  have  been  without,  Christ’s 
coming. 


The  Place  of  Purgatory. 

All  who  die  in  the  Romish  Church  are  supposed 
to  be  saved.  But  many  who  so  die  are  admittedly 
bad  :  and  none  who  are  bad  can  enter  heaven. 
These  shall,  therefore,  be  cleansed  in  Purgatory. 
This  is  a  doctrine  which  contains  some  acknow- 


DEATH  AND  AFTER  DEATH. 


235 


ledgment  of  the  evil  of  sin.  A  pious  Romanist 
looks  on  Purgatory  as  a  blessing,  though  matters 
should  as  far  as  possible  be  settled  here,  since  a 
higher  rate  of  interest  will  be  exacted  yonder. 

How  to  deal  with  Romanism. 

Remember  that  in  attack  you  must  take  the 
whole  system  of  Romanism,  and  not  merely  parts  of 
it.  Purgatory,  for  instance,  is  necessary  under  the 
general  Roman  Catholic  system :  and  you  might  do 
the  reverse  of  good  to  a  devout  Romanist  by  remov¬ 
ing  only  his  belief  in  Purgatory,  which  is,  in  some 
sense,  a  tribute  to  the  purity  of  heaven,  and  an 
expression  of  the  sense  of  defilement  in  man. 
Above  all,  hold  up  the  Gospel  to  such  :  and  seek  to 
build  up,  and  not  merely  to  knock  down. 

The  Pharisees. 

\ 

The  Pharisees  were  the  best  class  in  the  nation, 
after  all ;  and  here  lies  the  point  of  Christ’s  assertion, 
that  the  best  of  natural  religion  could  not  take  men 
to  heaven.  Our  old  school  Presbyterians,  stripped  of 
their  vital  Christianity,  would  be  the  modern  repre¬ 
sentatives  of  the  Pharisees.  A  man  that  winks,  and 
smiles,  and  thanks  Heaven  that  he  is  not  a  Pharisee, 
has  usually  little  to  thank  God  for  along  that  line. 

Something  not  to  shout  about. 

When  you  hear  a  man  shouting  out  about  eternal 
hell,  he  is  making  it  as  plain  as  possible  that  he ’s 


236 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


an  infidel  on  the  subject.  There  is  a  great  deal 
of  unbelief  in  the  world  in  this  connection,  and  also 
a  great  deal  of  swearing  in  the  pulpit.  A  man  who 
realises  in  any  measure  the  awful  force  of  the  words, 
eternal  hell,  won’t  shout  about  it,  but  will  speak  with 
all  tenderness. 

A  Personal  Remmiscence. 

I  was  much  staggered  and  perplexed,  during  a 
period  of  anxiety  after  college,  in  reading  from 
Angell  James’s  “Anxious  Enquirer,”  a  passage  to 
the  effect,  that  the  reader  had  better  shut  the  book 
and  go  down  on  his  knees,  if  he  did  not  feel  that  his 
past  sin  was  sufficient  to  merit  eternal  damnation  in 
hell.  Now,  this  is  not  the  just  way  of  putting  the 
case.  God  withdrew  spiritual  life  from  Adam,  the 
moment  he  ate  the  apple  ;  he  abandoned  the  man. 
But  what  makes  the  abandonment  everlasting  is 
man’s  continued  sin.  If  men  could  go  there  and 
suffer  without  sinning,  hell  would  not  be  half  so  bad. 
But  they  both  sin  and  suffer  there. 

A  Run7iing  Account  of  Ginlt. 

It  is  often  held,  not  by  Romanists  only  but  by 
many  Protestants,  that  future  punishment  is  all  in¬ 
flicted  because  of  sins  committed  on  earth.  But 
eternal  punishment,  although  it  is  the  result,  is  not 
the  correlate  of  temporal  sin.  A  penalty  and  a 
consequence  are  not  the  same.  It  is  to  be  re- 


DEATH  AND  AFTER  DEATH.  2^7 

membered  that  men’s  sins  in  hell  deserve  and  get 
punishment.  Exclusion  from  God’s  favour  is  the 
result  of  sin  here  ;  the  continuation  of  that  exclusion 
perpetuates  the  punishment ;  and  the  guilt  of  lost 
souls  in  the  other  world  is  a  running  account  kept 
up  with  compound  interest.  It  is  with  them  as  with 
certain  criminals,  e.g.^  in  Allegheny  penitentiary,  who, 
through  the  attempted  murder  of  a  warder,  got  a 
prolongation  of  punishment.  The  ring-leaders  in 
such  places  often  go  on  getting  increments  of  punish¬ 
ment  ;  and  this  is  a  view  of  the  case  not  to  be 
lost  sight  of,  in  speaking  of  the  eternity  of  future 
punishment. 


Three  Relations  to  Law. 

Law  is  essential.  It  is  a  relation  which  every 
intelligent  creature  sustains  eo  ipso  to  God.  Hell, 
as  well  as  earth  and  heaven,  is  under  law.  Our 
probation  is  here  (under  the  covenant),  and  our 
destiny  is  fixed  when  we  die  ;  but  even  after  that  the 
lost  as  well  as  the  saved  continue  under  law.  There 
are,  however,  three  relations  to  law,  which  must  be 
distinguished, — the  covenant,  the  regulative,  and  the 
penal. 


The  Final  Judgment. 

So  far  as  God  is  concerned,  the  facts,  the  know¬ 
ledge  of  the  facts,  and  judgment  on  the  facts  about 
any  of  us  are  as  old  as  eternity.  The  great  object 


238 


BREVIA  THEOLOGICA. 


of  the  Judgment  is,  to  establish  justice,  and  to  exalt 
it  in  the  estimation  of  men. 

The  Judgment  General  as  well  as  Individiial. 

We  die  as  individuals,  and  God  deals  with  us  as 
such.  But  God  has  also  dealings  with  men  in  the 
mass  even  now  ;  and  he  will  so  deal  with  them  at  the 
great  day  of  Judgment.  The  doctrine  of  a  general 
Judgment  implies,  that  each  man  shall  be  revealed 
not  only  to  himself,  but  to  all  whose  history  has  had 
points  of  contact  with  Him.  It  does  not  necessarily 
imply  a  revelation  of  each  to  every  soul  in  the 
universe,  which  would  require  a  sort  of  omniscience 
in  these. 


The  Test  m  Judgment. 

Men’s  loyalty  to  Christ  will  be  the  test.  The 
judgment  of  men’s  characters  will  be  qualified 
according  to  their  light.  No  two  men,  even 
brothers  in  one  house,  have  had  the  same  amount 
of  light.  We  are  responsible,  too,  for  the  light  we 
might  have  had. 

The  Missionary  Enterprise. 

Millenarian  missionaries  have  a  style  of  their  own. 
Their  theory  affects  their  work  in  the  way  of  making 
them  seek  exclusively,  or  chiefly,  the  conversion  of 
individual  souls.  The  true  and  efficient  missionary 
method  is,  to  aim  directly,  indeed,  at  soul  winning. 


DEATH  AND  AFTER  DEATPI.  239 

but  at  the  same  time  to  plant  Christian  institutions 
in  heathen  lands,  which  will,  in  time,  develop 
according  to  the  genius  of  the  nationalities. 
English  missionaries  can  never  hope  to  convert  the 
world  directly ‘by  units. 

The  End. 

Now,  gentlemen,  we  might  as  well  come  to  “the 
end  of  the  world.”  Mr  Rubinkam,  will  you  please 
recite  :  we  have  very  little  time,  sir !  .  .  . 


FINIS. 


Ttirnhill  6^  Spears,  Printers,  Edinburgh. 


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